




,ro 1-1123 





Book - 



..15.5-A:. 



L 






LIFE IN THE 

CONFEDEEATE AEMY 

BEING THE 

ill the (South bithng the 

AMERICAN CIVIL AVAE. 



WILLIAM WATSONjQ^ Srr^l^„,l,e. 



NEW YORK: 
SCRIBNER & WELFORD. 

1888. 







i3 -NIAR 1^1 









TO 



COLONEL JOHN SCOTT, C.B., 

1st Kenfeew and Dumbarton Artillery Volunteer Corps. 



Sir, 

Having written a brief narrative of my observations 

and experience in the Southern States prior to and during the 
earlier part of the American Civil War, and as these observa- 
tions touching the causes which led to the war were gathered 
from amongst the industrial and commercial classes, and my 
experience in the war being in a volunteer corps, I proposed 
to dedicate the simple narrative to you, as a gentleman who at 
once unites an extensive connection in the industrial and 
commercial world with an active interest and participation in 
the military defences of the country, and whose services in 
public aflfairs generally are well known. 

I claim no merit for the work beyond a plain, honest, and 

truthful statement of what I actually saw and gathered 

^ from the general tone and sentiment of persons in the sphere 

;j^' in which I moved. I am, therefore, much gratified in having 

/\I your permission to dedicate my humble volume to you. 

^ I am. Sir, 



Yours very respectfully, 

WILLIAM WATSON. 



Pea Ridge, Skelmorlie, 
17th September, 1887. 



PREFACE. 



On the origin, progress, and issue of the American Civil 
War there has, no doubt, been much written from various 
sources, and from different points of view. 

Assuming those accounts to be strictly correct and impartial, 
still it must be acknowledged that in general descriptions of 
events of historical importance the subject is generally 
taken in the abstract, wholly and collectively, and there 
is seldom room for any minute analysis of individual senti- 
ment, personal views, or minor incidents, which might be 
interesting if given in a personal narrative, even though 
that narrative extended only to a limited portion of the 
general subject ; and more especially if the narrator hap- 
pened to be an outsider, having little or no direct interest 
on either side, but became a participant in tlie events 
through force of peculiar circumstances. 

The writer resided for several years immediately pre- 
ceding the war in the capital of one of the Southern States ; 
and, though his occupation and station were more among 
the industrious, non-slaveholding, and less political class, 
still, as all classes took less or more interest in political 



VI PEEFACE. 

matters and politics was a general theme of conversation, 
he had ample means of observing the working of the 
political system. 

The place being tlie seat of Government was the residence 
or headquarters of the leading statesmen and politicians and 
the centre of all political movements. 

He had every opportunity of obser\dng the movements 
which led to the Secession of the States, and the manner 
in which it was accomplished and carried through. 

He had also a peculiar advantage of knowing the private 
sentiments of a large body of the people when the Secession 
movement began, and the change of sentiment which cir- 
cumstances afterwards actually forced upon them. 

That he got mixed up in the turmoil and came to take 
part in the war he considered unavoidable ; and he trusts 
the explanation he has given in the course of the narrative 
will be sufficient excuse. 

It may be a little disappointing to some that the nar- 
rative is confined to the early part of the war, and to 
events which took place in the West and Centre, and do 
not extend to the more brilliant campaigns in Virginia, 
and the more sanguinary struggles in the later part of the 
war. But the writer presumes that much has already 
been written from that field, while many things which took 
place in the West and Centre were less noticed, and 



PREFACE. Vll 

sometimes entirely overlooked in the multitude of more 
exciting events at the time ; and, as he does not aspire to 
anything like a philosophic or historical account, but simply 
relates what he actually saw and experienced, he considers 
that the positions and places he happened to be in at diflerent 
times, in and out of the army, afforded him more varied and 
better opportunities for observations, which would be of greater 
interest in a personal narrative than if swallowed up in 
the midst of a large army in one place or in one continued 
campaign. 

In giving this account of his observations and experience, 
the writer sums up his observations from what he personally 
witnessed, and from the general feeling and opinions expressed 
by those around him of the more moderate class outside of 
the ring of fiery politicians ; and any opinions on the origin 
of the war he leaves to be deduced from what little testimony 
he has given, should anyone consider that to be of any value. 

That the struggle should have been so sanguinary, should have 
continued so long and been maintained with such unanimity 
on both sides, and particularly on the part of the South, may 
have astonished many. He has mentioned one or two of the 
causes which he imagines contributed in soine measure to 
prolong the struggle. 

In relating his experience, any incidents he has tried 
to describe are given just as he witnessed them, and he 



Vlll PREFACE. 

ibelieves and trusts that many are still alive, who, if these 
pages meet their eyes, will recognise the writer, and will 
remember the incidents and that he does not attempt to 
■embellish them in any way. 

The writer has no pretensions to literary attainments, and 
possesses no great political or statistical knowledge, but 
'endeavours to give in a plain, blunt way this short narrative 
of his observations and experience which he thinks, even 
leaving out any political remarks, may be of interest in 
showing something of the utility of the Volunteer system, 
and how a nation may be strengthened in time of necessity 
and large and effective armies raised upon that system, and 
also in relating a test of the experience of citizen soldiers 
and their capabilities in actual warfare. 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION I. -THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 

CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

STATS or LOUISIANA IN 1860 — TOPOGKAPHICAL DESCRIPTION —SOIL — 
CLIMATE — PRODUCTIONS — POPULATION CLASSIFIED — INSTITUTION 
OF SLAVERY, 19 

CHAPTER II. 

tSLAVERY AS CONNECTED WITH THE QUESTION WHICH LED TO THE WAR, 32 

CHAPTER III. 

POLITICS AND POLITICIANS IN 1860 — HOW THEY MANAGED THEIR 

BUSINESS, - - - - 4.5 



SECTION II. "THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 

CHAPTER IV. 

BATON ROUGE, THE CAPITAL OF LOUISIANA IN 1860— STATE FAIR- 
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION — STATE OF PARTIES — NOMINATION OF 
LINCOLN— HIS SUPPOSED POLITICAL VIEWS— OBSERVATIONS ON HIS 
GENERAL CHARACTER AND QUALIFICATIONS — SOUTHERN OPINIONS 
OF HIM, 59 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER Y 



PA.aK 



ELECTION OF LINCOLN — SECESSION OF SOUTH CAROLINA — SDSPENSB 
AND EXCITEMENT IN THE SODTH — A PLEBISCITE DECIDED UPON 

— POLITICIANS AT WORK — CERTAIN CAUSES FOR SECESSION — A 
SPECIMEN OF ORATORY — PRECEPT AND PRACTICE AS SHOWN IN 

THE SEQUEL, ----.------ 6f> 

CHAPTER VI. 

SECESSION OF ALABAMA, FLORIDA, MISSISSIPPI, AND GEORGIA— MEETING 
OF CONGRESS — BUCHANAN'S MESSAGE — INACTION OF CONGRESS- 
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE RESULT OF THE PLEBISCITE IN LOUISIANA 

— ITS ACCURACY QUESTIONED — DISSENT OVERRULED — ACT OF 
SECESSION PASSED — SEIZURE OF THE ARSENAL — DEPARTURE OF THE 
UNITED STATES' TROOPS— DISAFFECTION AMONG THE VOLUNTEERS, 74 

CHAPTER VII. 

PREPARATIONS TO ORGANISE AN ARMY — AFFAIRS BECOME SERIOUS — 
SHAMEFUL INACTION OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT — SECESSION 
UNOPPOSED GAINS STRENGTH — THE PEOPLE, HAVING NO OTHER 
RESOURCE, ACCEPT THE SITUATION— OFFICE HUNTING— DEPRESSION 
OP BUSINESS — AN INTERVIEW WITH GOVERNOR MOORE, - - - 81 

CHAPTER VIII. 

PRECAUTION AGAINST ENEMIES FROM WITHOUT — PRECAUTION AGAINST 
DISAFFECTION WITHIN — RESULT OF THE GENERAL PLEBISCITE 
THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH - CONVENTION OF THE SIX STATES — 
FORMATION OF A CONFEDERACY — DEFIANT ATTITUDE OF JEFFERSON 
DAVIS — WARLIKE PREPARATIONS — ENTHUSIASM — CARRIED BY A 
COUP DE MAIN— SURMISES AS TO LINCOLN'S POLICY— HIS SUPPOSED 
WISEST POLICY — HOPES OF A PEACEFUL SEPARATION. - - - 89 



CONTENTS. XI 

CHAPTER IX. 

PA OK 

INAUQUKATION OF LKN'COLN — HIS INAUGURAL ADDKESS — GENERAL 
DISAPPOINTMENT — NEWSPAPER COMMENTS ON THE ADDRESS --HIS 
WANT OP DECISION OR POLICY — APPOINTMENT OF MR. SEWARD AS 
SECRETARY OF STATE — MR. SEWARD'S KNOWN ATTITUDE TOWARDS 
THE SOUTH — GRAVE APPREHENSIONS — SUPPOSED SHUFFLING OF 
MR. SEWARD, AND ATTEMPTS TO PROVOKE THE SOUTH INTO WAR 
—CRITICAL POSITION AT CHARLESTON, ------ 95 

CHAPTER X. 

A DISCUSSION IN A CAFE ON THK SITUATION — MODERATE MEN AND 

FIRE-EATERS, 104 

CHAPTER XI. 

BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER — NOBODY HURT — CONSEQUENCES OF 
THE ACT — CONFEDERATE LEADERS VAINGLORIOUS — IMAGINARY 
VICTORY TO JEFFERSON DAVIS -GREATER VICTORY TO MR. SEWARD 

— LINCOLN'S WAR PROCLAMATION — THE FEELING IT PRODUCED — 
INDIGNATION OP THE PEOPLE — THEY NOW SECEDE IN EARNEST, - 112 

CHAPTER XII. 

INDIGNATION AT LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION EXTENDS TO OTHER Sl'ATES 
—TEXAS JOINS THE CONFEDERACY— SECESSION OF VIRGINIA, NORTH 
CAROLINA, TENNESSEE, AND ARKANSAS — LINCOLN'S MEASURES TO 
CHECK FURTHER SECESSION — PROCLAMATION OF THE BLOCKADE OF 
THE SOUTHERN PORTS— A NEW AND LARGER CONFEDERACY FORMED 

— A CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS — MY OWN POSITION — REASONS FOR 
TAKING UP ARMS — MEETING AND DECISION OF OUR VOLUNTEER 
COMPANY— PREPARATIONS AND FITTING OUT— DEPARTURE FOR NEW 
ORLEANS — MUSTERING INTO SERVICE, lll> 



XU CONTENTS. 

SECTION IIL-LIFE IN THE CONEEDEEATE ARMY. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

PAGE 

PERSONAL NARRATIVE AS COMPARED WITH OFFICIAL REPORTS— REMARKS 

ON THE VOLUNTEER SYSTEM, - - - 131 

CHAPTER XIY. 

VOLUNTEERS IN ACTUAL SERVICE — DUTIES OF AN ORDERLY SERGEANT 
—DISQUALIFICATIONS OF AN ALIEN— CAMP WALKER— FIRST TASTES 
OF CAMP LIFE— ROUGHING IT— CAMP DUTIES AND REGULATIONS- 
MIXTURE OF SOCIETY — ZEAL AND PROGRESS IN TRAINING — 
INCIDENTS — ORGANISATION OF THE THIRD LOUISIANA REGIMENT 
—MARCHING ORDERS, 138 

CHAPTER XY. 

DEPARTURE FROM NEW ORLEANS— REMARKS ON THE QUARTER-MASTER 
AND COMMISSARY DEPARTMENTS — ARRIVAL AT BATON ROUGE — A 
PARTING INTERVIEW — INCIDENTS ON THE PASSAGE — ARRIVAL AT 
LITTLE ROCK — VIGOROUS TRAINING — ARRIVAL AT FORT SMITH — 
PRACTICAL DUTIES— DEFERENCE TO RANK — AMUSING INCIDENT — 
GENERAL M'CULLOCH —REPORTS AND ALARMS — PREPARATIONS TO 
TAKE THE FIELD, 163 

CHAPTER XVI. 

FIRST EXPERIENCE IN MARCHING —TIMES THAT TRIED MKN'S SOLES- 
INCIDENTS OF THE MARCH- CAMP WALKER IN ARKANSAS— ADVANCE 
INTO MISSOURI — DEMONSTRATIONS OF WELCOME — MEETING THE 
MISSOURI STATE TROOPS — CONCENTRATION OF THE FORCES AT 
CRANE CREEK— VICINITY OF THE ENEMY — COLONEL m'iNTOSH — 
SKIRMISHES WITH THE ENEMY — GENERAL PRICE — SCARCITY OF 
PROVISIONS— NECESSITY OF FORCING THE FIGHTING, - - - 181 



CONTENTS. XIU 



CHAPTER XVII, 



PAGE. 



A SOLEMN MARCH BY NIGHT— A DESERTED CAMr— JUDGING THE STRENGTH 
OF THE LION PROM THE APPEARANCE OF HIS DEN— FOLLOWING UP 
THE ENEMY — A TOILSOME DAY AND A COMFORTLESS NIGHT— ARRIVAL 
AT WILSON'S CREEK— LADY VISITORS TO THE CAMP- PREPARATIONS 
FOR A NIGHT ATTACK— ANOTHER POSTPONEMENT, - - - . 20O 

CHAPTER XYIII. 

BATTLE OF OAKHILL, - 21^ 

CHAPTER XIX. 

SPECULATIONS AS TO OUR NEXT MOVEMENT— DIFFERENT OPINIONS OF 
THE GENERALS — AN EASY TIME IN CAMP— AWAITING ORDERS— SOME 
REMARKS ON INTEMPERANCE AND THE MEANS ADOPTED TO PREVENT 
IT — A DELINQUENT MEMBER UNDER ARREST — MARCH SOUTHWARD 
— ARRIVAL AT CAMP WALKER — COURT MARTIALS AND THEIR 
SENTENCES — AN ATTACK OF TYPHOID FEVER — A MYSTERIOUS 
BUILDING USED AS A HOSPITAL — NEWS AND PRESENTS FROM 
HOME — FRESH ENTHUSIASM — A SECOND ADVANCE OF THE 
ENEMY— THE ARMY AGAIN TAKES THE FIELD — A VISIT TO AN 
INDIAN'S FARM, 232 

CHAPTER XX. 

CONVALESCENTS PROCEEDING TO JOIN THE ARMY — A PEEP INTO THE 
PUBLIC SCHOOLS— A QUICK TURN BACK— CRITICAL POSITION OF THE 
ARMY— A COURT-MARTIAL SENTENCE CARRIED OUT IN THE COMPANY 
—A BETTER POSITION— ACTING ON THE DEFENSIVE— THE REGIMENT 
ADOPTS A PET — THE PET VIOLATES THE REGULATIONS IN BESPECa' 
TO HONOUR DUE TO RANK — RETREAT OP THE ENEMY — WINTER 
QUARTERS, -254 



Xl^' CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

PAGK 

ARRANGEMENTS FOE A NEW CAMPAIGN— THE PROGRAMME CHANGED — 
SUDDEN CALL TO ARMS— UNEXPECTED ADVANCE OF THE ENEMY — 
HEAVY MARCHING AND SKIRMISHING — THE SITUATION DISCUSSED 
— SUDDEN REVERSE — MISMANAGEMENT SOMEWHERE — POLITICAL 
PATRIOTS NOT AtWAYS TO BE TRUSTED— RETREAT BACK TO BOSTON 
MOUNTAIN— M'CULLOCH PURSUES HIS OLD TACTICS — A NEW MAJOR- 
GENERAL APPOINTED OVER ALL— ALL RETROGRADE MOVEMENTS TO 
BK STOPPED— ANOTHER ADVANCE, - 271 

CHAPTER XXII. 

BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE — DEATH OF M'CULLOCH AND M'INTOSH, - - 285 

CHAPTER XXIIT. 

DISSATISFACTION OF THE TROOPS AT THE CONDUCT OF THE CAMPAIGN 
—A VISIT TO THE ENEMY's CAMP— EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS— GROSS 
MISMANAGEMENT — CRITICAL POSITION AND WRETCHED CONDITION 
OF THE ARMY— PRIVATION AND STARVATION— A MINIATURE MOSCOW 
RETREAT— ARRIVAL AT VAN BUREN— REORGANISING AGAIN AT FORT 
SMITH, - . . . 311 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

DKPARTDRB FROM FORT SMITH TO JOIN THE ARMY OF THE CENTRE — 
ARRIVAL AT LITTLE ROCK — THE CONSCRIPT ACT — ARRIVAL AT 
MEMPHIS — NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS OF THE WAR — ARRIVAL AT 
CORINTH — PREPARATION FOR A GREAT BATTLE WHICH DID NOT 
TAKE PLACE — EXPIRATION OF OUR TERM OF SERVICE — BATTLE 
OF FARMINGTON, 345 



CONTENTS. XV 

CHAPTER XXV. 

r AOK 
REOBGANISATION OF THE EEGIMEXT— DISPOSITION OF THE FORCES AT 

CORINTH— THE DIFFERENT GENERALS— FALL OF MEMPHIS— HARSH 

MEASURES OF BRAGG— THEIR EFFECTS— DISAFFECTION IN THE ARMY 

—THE CONFEDERACY ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE— RE-ESTABLISHED 

BY THE ACTS OF BUTLER IN NEW ORLEANS — STRENGTHENED BY 

GENERAL LEE — CORINTH CLOSER INVESTED— CONSTANT FIGHTING 

— EVACnATION OF CORINTH, 358 

CHAPTER XXYI. 

EVACUATION OF CORINTH DISAPPROVED OF — BEAUREGARDE SUPER- . 
SEDED BY BRAGG — CAMP AT TUPELO — FURTHER EFFECTS OF 
butler's POLICY — THE LADIES CUT UP THEIR DRESSES TO MAKE 
CLOTHING FOR THE SOLDIERS — SINECURE OFFICES — A GOVERNMENT 
INSPECTOR INSPECTING ARMS— EXPIRATION OF TERM OF SERVICE- 
DISCHARGE OF EXEMPTS — I LEAVE THE ARMY — RETURN TO BATON 
RODGE — GUERILLA WARFARE — BOMBARDMENT OF BATON ROUGE — 
HOW SECESSION AGITATORS KEPT THEIR FAITH— DISCUSSION WITH 
FEDERAL SOLDIERS ON THE QUESTION OF THE WAR — ARRR'AL 
AT NEW ORLEANS, 380 



SECTION IV.-IN THE SOUTH DUEING THE WAE. 

CHAPTER XXYII. 

NEW ORLEANS UNDER BUTLER's RULE — MODE OF EXACTING RANSOM 
FOR TREASON — BATTLE AT BATON ROUGE — REFUGEES CONVERTED 
TO UNIONISM RECONVERTED BY BUTLER — HIS OBSEQUIOUS FOL- 
LOWERS — SOCIALISM AND SERVILTSM — A COMPULSORY INTERVIEW 
WITH THIS PERSONAGE — HIS PRETENDED DEFIANCE OP FOREIGN 
POWERS — INCREASED HATRED BETWEEN THE PARTIES — DESTRUC- 
TION OP PROPERTY AT BATON ROUGE— ESCAPE FROM NEW ORLEANS, 401 



XVI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXYIII. 

PAOh 

RETURN TO BATON ROUGE — WRETCHED CONDITION OF THE PLACE- 
OUT OP THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE— RETURN TO THE ARMY — 
MILITARY CAREER CUT SHORT — BATTLE OP CORINTH — WOUNDED 
AND A PRISONER — PAROLE AND RETURN TO CIVIL OCCUPATION — 
CONDUCT OF THE NEGRO SLAVES — LINCOLN'S EMANCIPATION PRO- 
CLAMATION — COMMENTS AND CRITICISMS UPON ITS OBJECT AND 
EXTENT, 418 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

RE-OCCUPATION OP BATON ROUGE BY THE FEDERAL TROOPS — THAT 
DISTRICT AGAIN IN COMMUNICATION WITH NEW ORLEANS — PRODUCr: 
SENT TO MARKET— SEIZURES AND CONFISCATIONS— ])EPARTURE CP 
BUTLER PROM NEW ORLEANS — A REVIEW OF SOME OF HIS ACTS 
IN THAT CITY — HIS FOLLOWERS DON't FOLLOW HIM— GENERAL 
BANKS TAKES COMMAND— VIEW OP A NIGHT ATTACK ON PORT 
HUDSON BY THE FLEET — OVERFLOW OP THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER — 
RETURN TO NEW ORLEANS, 433 

CHAPTER XXX. 

FINANCIAL MATTERS IN NEW ORLEANS — INSECURITY OF PROPERTY — 
DEPRECIATION OF THE CURRENCY — I TAKE MY LEAVE AND GET 
TO SEA— CONCLUDING REMARKS, 447 



SECTION I. 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR, 



CHAPTER I. 

STATa OF LOUISIANA IN 1860 — TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION — SOIL — 
CLIMATE — PRODUCTIONS — POPULATION CLASSIFIED — INSTITUTION OF 
SLAVERY. 

The State of Louisiana comprises a part of that territory 
originally called Florida. It was settled by the French and 
sold by Napoleon to the United States in 1803. It lies to the 
west of the State which is now called Florida, and from which 
it is separated by parts of the States of Alabama and Missis- 
sippi. It has sometimes been called the sugar bowl of the 
United States, it being the principal State in which sugar is 
grown. It is one of the most Southern States in the American 
Union, and borders on the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi 
river runs through it, entering the Gulf of Mexico by one 
large volume at the Balize and by several small estuaries, or 
bayous as they are called, the most important of which are 
Bayou La Fourche, which branches off from the right bank 
at Donaldsonville, about 220 miles from the mouth, Bayou 
Plaquemines on the same side about 20 miles further up, and 
the Atchalafalia branching off near the mouth of Red river. 

These bayous or small rivers flow through a rich and level 
country, and are navigable throughout a considerable part of 
the year. 

The whole of the land along the right or west bank of the 
river as far up as the State extends, and to where the Ohio 
river joins it at Cairo, a distance of 900 miles, is flat alluvial 
land, and is below the level of the river when in flood at 
certain seasons of the year, and, before the country was settled, 
was overflowed when the river rose. To prevent this overflow, 
high embankments called levees have been formed all along the 
banks, which have to be kept in good repair and strictly 
watched when the river is high. Sometimes breaks take place 
which cause immense damage. 

On the left, or east bank, this low alluvial land extends only 
about 260 miles from its mouth, where the high undulating 
land begins. 



20 LIFE IX THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

These flat lands are nearly level, but have a slight slope 
falling away from the river on either side, the drainage leading 
away from the river and falling into various creeks and bayous 
leading to the Gulf of Mexico. The lower part of the 
Mississippi river, for about 250 miles from its mouth, may thus 
be said to form an immense aqueduct flowing along the crest 
of a ridge. 

These low lands, or bottoms as they are called, being 
entirely formed by the deposit from the overflow of the river, 
are very fertile and well adapted for the growth of sugar cane ; 
and in 1860 all along the river as far as this low land extends 
on the east side, and as far as Red river on the west, the 
sugar plantations extended. 

The high undulating lands produced cotton in abundance, 
Indian corn, sweet and common potatoes, with fruit, vegetables 
and live stock in abundance ; but the great staple products of 
the State were sugar and cotton. 

The State has also abundance of fine timber, on the lowlands 
there being enormous swamps hea\dly timbered with fine 
cypress, while much of the high and poorer lands are covered 
with excellent pitch j^ine, oak, ash, poplar, and other timber. 

The climate is hot, though not more so than New York and 
the other Northern States in summer, but here the summer is 
longer, and there is very little cold weather. In winter the 
frosts are slight, and snow is very rare in the southern part 
of the State. There is a pretty fair supply of rain, though 
most of it falls in July and August, and in December and 
January. 

The climate is on the Avhole healthy, although in the swampy 
districts there is a good deal of " chills and fever," but these 
are not of a serious nature. 

New Orleans has the name of being a most unhealthy city, 
but this is on account of its being \isited sometijnes by that 
fearful scourge, the yellow fever. This disease is not supposed 
to be indigenous to the place, but is imported from the West 
Indies or Mexico. It generally appears in July and continues 
to the end of September, when the first sHght frost puts an 
end to the epidemic, but it also too often proves fatal to any 
one afilicted with it when the frost appears. Its ravages are 
confined to New Orleans and the towns along the river, and it 
never extends into the country, and seldom to any of the 
towns back from the river. It is only in occasional years that 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 21 

the district is visited by this epidemic, which can be kept out 
by a strict quarantine. 

At all other times the city is very healthy and the mortality 
much less than might be supposed from the low lying situation 
and its seeming insanitary position and surroundings. 

New Orleans is the great emporium of the South, and is 
situated on the left bank, fronting the river, about 130 miles 
from its mouth, and upon the low^land. 

The streets of this city are only a few feet above the level of 
the sea, and the drainage is led to Lake Pontchartrain, which 
is a branch or arm of the Gulf of Mexico, approaching to 
within six miles of the back of the city, the land intervening- 
being low and level, the drainage is elevated and assisted along 
by water-wheels, driven by steam-engines. 

At the time of which I write (1860) there was no through 
connection between New Orleans and the Northern cities by 
railway, and the whole of the traffic was by sea, and the 
Mississippi river ; and although telegraph communication was 
established the mails took five or six days to come from New 
York by an inland route, and the railroads between the 
Atlantic cities and the Western States, not yet having been 
fully opened up, the most of the produce of the latter came 
down the river by means of steamers and flat boats to New 
Orleans, which was then the great outlet and market of the 
South-west. 

In regard to population, the State of Louisiana had been 
originally settled by the Spaniards and French, and up till 
the end of the last century, had been a French colony, a large 
portion of the population were consequently of French extrac- 
tion, still retaining their language, manners, and customs, and 
many of the oldest planters and merchants were of French 
descent. The great influx, however, from the Northern States 
and from Europe had considerably overtopped this, and the 
population of New Orleans became of a mixed character, and 
at this time might be said to represent every nation in the 
world. 

The principal merchants and planters in the State were 
descendants of the old French families, men from the North, 
and other States, with a good many English, Irish, Scotch and 
Germans. 

Of the other portions of the population throughout the 
State, there were what were called the Arcadians, or small 



22 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

settlers, something like the crofters in the Highlands of 
Scotland. These were of French extraction and were located 
mostly on the low grounds along the river and bayous. 
Interspersed among the larger planters they lived in rather 
poor wooden houses ; they were not guilty of great ambition ; 
they lived poorly; they cultivated nothing beyond a little 
Indian corn and vegetables, spent most of their time in 
hunting and fishing ; their wants were small and they were 
regarded as a contented and inoffensive lot, and were often 
subjected to the taunting remark that they lived and ate the 
crawfish which they caught on the river bank and then died, 
and the crawfish ate them. 

Then there were the small farmers who did not aspire to the 
name of planters. These were mostly located on the higher 
lands and owned tracts of from 10 to 160 acres, possessing 
oxen, cows, pigs, poultry, and other live stock, and the never 
failing supply of native ponies for saddle or spring cart. Part 
of the land this class cultivated produced Indian corn, fruit, 
and vegetables, and a few bales of cotton to meet their 
financial wants. They were mostly natives of the State or of 
some of the other Southern States. A few of them owned one 
or two slaves or perhaps a family which they had inherited 
from their forefathers, but the greater part of them did not 
own slaves but worked the land with their families or hired 
help. 

Of the mechanic or artisan class, the greater portion of them 
were natives of the Northern States, or Europeans. These, 
with clerks and others of similar nationality, constituted a 
considerable portion of the population. 

The labouring classes, of which there was a large number, 
were located chiefly in New Orleans and the other towns along 
the river, where they were extensively employed in loading 
and discharging the numerous steamboats, stowing cotton in 
ships, and employed about the cotton presses and other public 
works, and very largely on the river on barges and steamboats. 
They were composed mostly of Irish and Germans, and but 
few of them, after the requisite five years' residence, had 
failed to pass through the form of getting their naturalisation 
papers, and in becoming citizens, thereby obtaining the coveted 
privilege of voting. 

But the great ruling power and interest was centred in the 
" peculiar institution," which was regarded or had at least to 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 23^ 

be acknowledged as paramount to all other interests — the 
" institution of slavery." 

There has been a great deal said and written on this 
" institution " for and against it, -though I cannot see that on 
either side much has been said or written from a truly 
authentic or dispassionate source. 

Those who have written condemnatory of it have generally 
been actuated by a spirit of prejudice against those who 
maintained it without having any practical or personal 
experience, or observation ; but have based their criticisms on 
testimony sought for and selected from prejudiced sources. 
These have portrayed shocking outrages and horrible cruelties 
which may have been mere tales of tradition or may have been 
illustrative of something which actually did occur, but of 
which the accounts were generally so much overdrawn as to 
show too plainly that they were intended to create a sensation 
rather than to set forth the actual truth. 

If these writers had, with earnest pliilanthropic motives, 
sought truly authentic information or taken a temporary 
sojourn in a slave State where they would have witnessed 
personally the working of the system, they could have produced 
irrefutable arguments against slavery of a more practical, plain, 
and reasonable kind, and which, properly used, could wdth the 
general advancement of modern sentiments have had greater 
effect towards producing a steady and gradual reform, culmin- 
ating not only in its abolition but also in obtaining a means 
whereby the negro might have been proAT.ded for either by 
colonisation or by being trained in the habits befitting an 
industrious freeman, and without being demoralised by a 
sudden transition brought about by revolution. 

On the other hand those who wrote or spoke in favour of 
slavery were equally extravagant in the opposite direction, and 
were either prejudiced by personal interest or in endeavouring 
to please a party, by meeting fabulous reports and extravagant 
arguments by reports as fabulous, and arguments equally 
extravagant. 

It might be supposed that any person of ordinary observation 
and common judgment, residing in a slave State, without 
having any connection or interest directly or indirectly w4th 
slavery, and in every way neutral both in interest or opinion, 
but having every opportunity of looking on and dispassionately 
observing the system, would be likely to give an unbiassed 



24 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

opinion. There were plenty of such men, and among them 
men of sound judgment and independent minds, well qualified 
to give straightforward and unbiassed views on the subject, 
and it seems strange that so many of them were averse to 
doing so. The general response to any suggestion of this kind 
was that the subject had become distasteful and disgusting to 
all calm-reasoning and moderate-minded men, and had already 
gone into the hands of extremists on both sides. At that 
time any production on the subject to be patronised must be 
extreme on the one side or the other. Any honest and truthful 
statements or calm and dispassionate views would not have 
been sufficiently sensational to meet the wishes of the extremists 
on either side. Men of moderate views had got satiated and 
disgusted with the subject, and took little interest in the 
matter, and refused to take the field against opponents with 
neither of whom any sensible man could wish to have any 
controversy. 

Such was the invariable reply that I have often heard made 
to any suggestion to the production of any such work. 

As one of the disinterested class but without the necessary 
qualifications, I cannot enter into the merits of this " peculiar 
institution," as it was then called, and as it then existed, or 
attempt any criticism of it from a philosophical or sentimental 
point of view. 

I could never see in it the merits of a " Divine institution " 
for the amelioration and enlightenment of the negro race as 
claimed for it by those who supported it. Neither can I relate 
any of the horrible cruelties we read about because I never 
saw any of them or heard of them except in books or tracts. 
Nevertheless I do not put this forward as an argument that 
such things never took place. As for outrages on kindred ties 
I knew of one case : I happened to see it tried in court. A 
master had under somewhat exceptional circumstances sold a 
mother apart from her daughter, the latter having lacked some 
two months of the prescribed age, which by the law of the 
State was ten or twelve years (I forget which). For this he 
was convicted and sentenced to six months' imprisonment and 
to pay a fine of one thousand dollars ! This took place in 
1855. 

I have seen plenty of the " institution," however, which has 
not appeared in books, but which was in my mind sufficient 
to warrant some attempt being made towards a change as 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 25 

soon as possible in the system of labour and in the abolition 
of slavery ; I will confine myself, however, to describing what 
impressions I formed from what came under my own observa- 
tion and from my own simple point of view and its connection 
mth the question which gave rise to the civil war. Slavery 
was at that time a remnant still existing of customs which 
prevailed in former ages, now happily a thing of the past, and 
not likely again to be a question for international or domestic 
legislation. 

I have often heard it questioned — and I believe it is open 
to question — whether, when the abolition movement sprung up 
in the North, it arose out of pure sympathy for the negro, or 
whether it was more of a political move for party purposes. 

If it arose from the former motives, their personal regard 
and affection for the negro were certainly not always strictly 
in keeping with their professed sentiments. 

If from the latter motives, it effected its purpose, though at 
a fearful cost. 

I believe it originated from the former motives, but the 
true sentiments were confined to a very limited number. The 
vote of this sect, however, became (like the Irish vote) a bid 
for political parties, and when the Republican party was 
originated just sufficient of the principle was cautiously 
ingrafted into its platform to secure the vote of the abolition- 
ists without endangering the support of the greater body who 
had no sympathy with abolition. 

It was an argument of long standing and strongly main- 
tained, not only in the South, but over the whole of the United 
States, that the negro race were unfitted for any other position 
than that of the slave. There were undoubtedly some who 
expressed themselves otherwise and who were no doubt sincere 
in their convictions, but I question much whether even at the 
present day there are not a very large number who look upon 
the negro at least as an inferior race. 

If there is any ground for this opinion I have often thought 
that it is not so much that the negro is unfitted for any other 
position than that of a slave, as the undoubted fact that there 
is not in the whole world any other race that is so fitted 
for the position as the negro. I believe that to take any other 
race of the most rude and savage nature and place them under 
the same bondage even with good care and treatment, they 
would never thrive, and, if they could not revolt against it. 



26 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

would give way to wretched despondency, pine away, and die. 
The negro can suit himself to the occasion, thrive under it, be 
contented and happy, " laugh and grow fat," and, under certain 
circumstances, show some pretensions to polish and even an 
attempt at gentlemanly manners. All this, of course, is of a 
kind. 

How different with the American Indian who could not be 
subdued, and whose wrongs so few have sympathised with. I 
have sometimes in conversation with the Indians introduced 
the subject of the negro race and slavery, and the invariable 
response was — "The Indian has a birthright, which the negro 
has not. The Indian can die, the negro cannot die." 

The Southern master made the whole of the negro his 
study. He studied his mental and physical nature, his wants 
and his passions, even to some extent to the humouring of his 
sentiments. They knew what were his pleasures and tastes, 
and they strove to turn them to the best account. It was the 
master's interest that the slaves should increase and thrive. 
They knew the negroes were possessed of human sentiments. 
They knew these sentiments must have play, and they endea- 
voured to cultivate those sentiments to suit the slave's position. 
They encouraged and cultivated his tastes for amusements, of 
which they knew them to be fond, songs, music, dancing, balls, 
and holidays at certain times. All these tended to gratify and 
smooth their rougher sentiments, occupy their minds, and 
absorb their thoughts, and leave no room for the intrusion of 
care or sad reflection. 

Other or finer sentiments were no doubt trampled upon, 
but these were blunted by long usage, and the condition 
seemed to be accepted as a part of their heritage, and to this 
state of things their natures had become hardened. The slave 
was born to the position, he was educated for it, he knew he 
could not make better of it, and he yielded resignedly to it. 
The idea of being bought and sold seemed to be a part of his 
nature, inherited from his earliest origin in Africa, and trans- 
mitted with him and to his posterity wherever he might go. 

There is certainly not in existence any other race of man- 
kind that could so well have made the best of the unfortunate 
position, and the way in which they seemed to turn a life of 
bondage and misery from which they could not extricate 
themselves, into a life of comparative happiness, showed a 
certain amount of philosophy of no ordinary kind. 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 27 

The Southern slaveowners were undoubtedly, of all men 
who ever had been slaveowners, the most humane, kind, and 
considerate in the treatment of their slaves, and especially the 
real old Southern families who had been settled in the South 
for generations. If there were cases of cruelty or oppression 
they were generally to be found among those who had come 
from the North and other places, with a view of enriching 
themselves in a short time and returning to their native 
country, and then, perhaps, becoming pillars of some philan-- 
thropic society or institution. 

But the real old settlers, who had no ambition beyond 
making their plantation their home, and maintaining a com- 
fortable independence, regarded their slaves as their families 
and it was a cause of considerable grief to a family if any of 
their negroes became such bad subjects as to require to be 
severely punished or sold. These planters and their negroes 
were born together on the plantation ; they had played together 
in childhood. Surplus sons of the planter might branch off to 
follow some profession, the others as they grew up fell into 
their respective positions of master and slave (or negro, as it 
was more popularly termed). Both were contented, and, like 
many others, they saw themselves and their position in the 
light of their own eyes and not as others saw them, and they 
did not understand why any outsiders should interfere with 
them. 

I certainly believe that the Southern planters in general, 
and particularly the class I have referred to, did not uphold 
the institution of slavery out of a cruel and heartless design 
of enriching themselves. They were, I believe, sincere in the 
belief, however erroneous that might be, that they were the 
benefactors of the negro in thus taking charge of and com- 
pelling him to labour honestly, and to maintain habits of 
morality in a class which they considered were unable to take 
care of themselves, and who would if left to themselves soon 
give way to indolence, immoral passions, and relapse into 
barbarity. 

With regard to the more speculative class of slaveowners 
who had more recently settled, most of them were from the 
Northern States, a good many from New England, the seat of 
the abolition movement, and I have heard it naively insin- 
uated that some of them had come as abolition agents ; but 
thinking that slaveowning would be a better paying business,. 



28 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

they became converted to Southern ideas and thought they 
would try a " spec " in the " peculiar institution." Of course 
such things were said in joke, though there might be some 
slight grounds for the insinuation. Be that as it may they 
were not considered the kindest of masters, though in general 
by no means harsh or cruel, still the negroes did not like the 
idea of being sold to a Yankee master. 

As to the question of the negro being an inferior race that 
is a question for philosophers. By a long residence in the 
British West Indies I had ample means of judging that the 
negro as a freeman can be an industrious and faithful labourer 
or servant, a thrifty and respectable member of society. But it 
is most rigidly necessary that he must be made to understand 

First. — That it is the destiny and duty of every man to earn 
his bread by honest employment. 

Second. — That he is in a country and among society where 
this is a necessity and cannot be evaded. 

Third. — That he is under a law that ^Y\\\ be strictly enforced, 
and which impartially executes justice betwen man and man 
and between employer and employed. 

Let such conditions be fully understood and enforced, and 
no man need complain of the average negro as an industrious 
man or a member of society. 

But let the agitating self-styled friend of humanity stir up 
his passions, set before him his great wrongs, his rights as a 
freeman, the glorious liberty which he, the agitator, has 
obtained for him, and means to defend him against those who 
now seek to rob him of his rights ; and thus feed his vanity 
with a consciousness of his own importance, no ear is more open 
to such seductive flattery. He immediately thinks that he is 
wronged in having to work at all, and no class of men can so 
completely set aside all reason and carry their imaginative 
ideas to such an incredible extent. 

I am well aware that from this cause chiefly arose all the 
evils which followed the emancipation in the British West 
Indies when the disgusting indolence, the unreasonable pre- 
tension, and the bearding swagger and insolence of the negroes 
•disgusted the civilised world, took away much sympathy, and 
cast a stigma upon the name of the negro race, which tended 
to degrade the negro as a freeman, and added force to the 
belief that he was fitted only for a slave, and to a great extent 
neutralised the generous act of the British people in their gift 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 29 

of twenty millions to emancipate the slave, by demoralising 
him at the same time. 

Thus his pretended friends were his greatest enemies, and 
did more injury to the negro race than many years of slavery. 

When we consider the excesses which our own working- 
population, with all the advantages of civilisation and education 
can be led into at the present day by the same kind of agitators, 
we may well excuse the poor ignorant emancipated negro for 
listening to such flattery half a century ago. 

I am fully aware that the well-known state of matters which 
followed the emancipation in the British West Indies stood 
greatly in the way of any movement towards the abolition of 
slavery in the Southern States ; and, with the condition of 
Jamaica before their eyes, a belief that such a course would 
be disastrous was held not only by the slaveowners but by the 
population at large, particularly if no provision was made for 
the disposal of the emancipated negroes. And this belief was 
strengthened and resistance to such a measure was still more 
intensified by the attitude of the New England abolitionists 
who preached the equality of races and prescribed for the 
Southern people, politically and socially, perfect equality with 
the negro — an equality which they themselves did not accord 
to him in their own State ; and in any case, if there was any 
aversion to contamination, they knew they were themselves 
iDeyond the reach of that contamination which they prescribed 
for others. There was no probability of the migration of the 
negro to starve in the cold climate of N^ew England while he 
could revel in luxury in the more genial regions of the South. 

The policy of the New England agitator I have often heard 
exemplified by the general people of the South in this way : — 
"Allowing three different spheres of society and morals, 
numbers one, two, and three. Number one is completely 
beyond the reach of contamination with number three ; never- 
theless he is fond of adulation ; he desires to ride high on the 
philanthropic hobby-horse; he conceives the idea of getting 
the honour of elevating number three by amalgamating him 
\vith number two, so that the better position and higher 
standard of morals so long striven for, worked for, and attained 
by number two may be taken from the patient and industrious 
number two and equally divided between him and the pro- 
fligate and thriftless number three — and all this in order that 
number one may be adulated as a philanthropist, and thus 



30 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

claim to have been the benefactor of, and obtain the gratitude 
and praise of number three at the expense of number two." 

How far such an exemplification may be applicable to this 
or other similar movements I will not pretend to say, but I 
have often heard such arguments brought forward by the non- 
slaveholding population of the South, with most bitter invec- 
tives against the Northern agitators, and I merely mention 
them because I have never seen them put publicly forward in 
political arguments or outside of the class who expressed them 
—a class which up to the time of the civil war seems to have 
been little known and little represented in the world at large — 
I mean the non-slaveholding population of the South. 

I believe that a large portion of the population of the United 
States, both North and South, were in favour of abolishing 
slavery, but the question of disposing of the negroes and the 
bugbear of placing the emancipated slaves amongst them, with 
the example of the British West Indies before them, was the 
stumbling-block in the way. 

While under a democratic government such as the United 
States, colour would most likely be adopted as a material for 
the manufacture of political capital, and it would be difficult 
to adopt a mild code of labour laws such as had been adopted 
in some parts of the British West Indies some years after the 
emancipation, and particularly in Trinidad, which, under the 
wise administration of Lord Harris, were strictly enforced, 
and tended compulsorily to elevate the moral character of the 
negro, taught him industrious habits, and greatly improved 
his condition in life. 

So great was the fear of vagabondage by the increase of free 
negroes in the South that there were restrictions placed upon 
the emancipating of a slave. No master could emancipate his 
slave without in some way providing for him within the State 
or sending him out of it, and many slaveowners on dying 
bequeathed in their wills freedom to all or certain of their 
slaves on condition that they emigrated to certain specified 
countries. Thus, a number of years ago, a Mr. Stephen 
Henderson, a native of Scotland, died in New Orleans, making 
a provision in his will that his slaves should be set free and 
sent to Liberia. 

From some dispute about the interpretation of the will, this 
case was not decided until some years after his death, by which 
time the slaves had been sold to other masters under the con- 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 31 

ditions of the will still pending. When the decision was 
finally given by the supreme court, it was to the effect that the 
slaves should be set free on condition that they would emigrate 
to Liberia. This was immediately made known to the slaves ; 
but they did not care to avail themselves of it. I knew several 
of the slaves. They seemed to have been the subject of good 
treatment and were intelligent. They often talked to me on 
the matter of their old master's will. Unconditional freedom 
would have been very acceptable to them, but before they 
would go all the way to Africa they preferred to remain with 
their present masters. 

There was said to have been many peculiar business trans- 
actions between Northern men, who posed as abolitionists and 
philanthropists, and Southern slaveowners, which, if fully 
enquired into, might have put a very different face on some of 
the exciting tales put before the world in the gushing language 
of fanatics. Of these I can give no authentic account, but 
merely refer to them as current topics among the people 
generally of the South, and, whether true or not, tended 
greatly to disgust the non-slaveholding population and to 
alienate them from the abolitionists of the North. 



CHAPTER II. 

SLAVERY AS CONNECTED WITH THE QUESTION WHICH LED TO THE WAR. 

Now as regards the connection of slavery with the question 
which gave rise to the civil war in America, I doubt much 
whether this has ever been regarded in its actual and true 
light. 

If we are to accept the theory which some have presumptu- 
ously sought to advance that the South was fighting to 
maintain the institution of slavery, while the North was 
fighting to abolish it, it would be reasonable to suppose that 
the institution must have been very generally popular in the 
South and of universal benefit to all classes. 

That this was not the case it is easy to show, for it was but 
a small minority of the people who derived any benefit directly 
or indirectly from the institution of slavery. 

But a still more striking feature is, that it appeared to be 
maintained by a system which seemed strangely anomalous in 
a country and among a people whose chief boast was their 
freedom of speech and sentiment, while one word against this 
cherished institution would subject the utterer to the grossest 
maltreatment, banishment, or perhaps death. These retalia- 
tions, if not inflicted, were at least tolerated and endorsed by 
men whose interests were in no way benefited, but rather 
injured by slavery, and who were at the same time of sufficient 
number to have had it abolished within the State. 

This state of things I have heard most justly and strongly 
commented upon, but never sufficiently accounted for. I 
found it to have originated from the following cause : While 
freedom of speech and sentiment was the acknowledged law of 
the land, the abuse of this privilege, which has sometimes 
been curtailed in other countries by an edict from the sovereign, 
could not in democratic America be suppressed except by the 
usual resources of a popular movement. From this popular 
movement arose the nefarious system of retaliation so justly 
condemned. 

There is in all countries that pest of society, the unprincipled 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 33 

agitator, who, possessing some " gift of the gab," contrives to 
prey upon the credulity of the ignorant, and, to accomplish his 
own purpose, stirs up strife and discontentment among the indus- 
trial classes, and to these demagogues the ignorant negroes of 
the South offered a tempting field ; and had they been allowed 
to exercise their unscrupulous designs among the slaves, the 
consequences might have been serious ; and as by the statute 
nothing could be done to suppress the " freedom of speech," 
the people had no other way to prevent disturbance or insur- 
rection than to have recourse to a system of popular repression, 
and to inflict summary punishment on the offenders. 

Unfortunately the matter did not end here. These agitators 
when they saw before them what they dreaded most of all, the 
terrors of Lynch law, they as quickly turned round and 
became the champions and guardians of slavery, became 
loudest in their denunciations of the abolitionists, and with 
the view of obtaining the support and patronage of the slave- 
holders, were always ready to take an active part in inflicting 
punishment on anyone whom they could accuse of uttering an 
expression against the interests of the institution of slavery. 
Hence arose that terrorising system which became the curse of 
every community where slavery existed. 

Many arguments had been raised against slavery beyond the 
limits of the States where it prevailed. Many books had been 
written condemnatory of it and detailing its horrors, but 
unfortunately most of these were absurdly exaggerated, and 
being more sentimental than accurate they tended rather to 
strengthen and maintain the evil than to pave the way for its 
abolition by those who had, or ought to have had, the 
immediate power to deal with it. These, I may say, were the 
population in the States where it existed. 

The institution of slavery was recognised and provided for 
in the original constitution of the United States, and on the 
principle of State sovereignty had only been and could only 
be dealt with by the legislature of the State in which it existed; 
the Federal Congress had no power to deal with it or legislate 
upon it without first amending the constitution of the United 
States. This they could not do without a majority of two- 
thirds of both Houses, and this majority they had never been 
able to obtain. 

The total number of States in the Union at the out- 
break of the war was thirty-three, and the total population 

c 



34 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

a,bout thirty-five million. The total number of States in 
which slavery was recognised and lawful, was fifteen. In 
one of these — Delaware — slavery was very little practised, 
and was gradually dying out. In three other States — Mary- 
land, Kentucky, and Missouri — it was gradually being done 
away with, although they still maintained and upheld the 
principle. It may thus be said that only in eleven States was 
slavery in fuU power. These States had a population of about 
nine millions. Within these eleven States there was a total of 
a little over two hundred thousand of the population who 
owned slaves, and these included a large number who were 
not citizens, and who had no voting powers, such as females 
and unnaturaHsed foreigners of whom there were a consider- 
able number. Though we may make every allowance for their 
families and adherents, and all others who might derive benefit, 
or were directly or indirectly interested in the " institution," 
there Avas still a large majority whose interests were in no 
way promoted but rather prejudiced by it. These latter were 
also largely composed of single men without famihes and 
Avithout property, but who possessed the voting power, and the 
fighting power, if necessary. 

How in the face of this could an institution so prejudicial to 
so great a majority of the population, and so distasteful to 
many, not only be so long maintained, but that to preserve it 
the peo]Dle should Avithdraw from a union they had always 
cherished with an almost sacred reverence, and involve them- 
selves in a desperate war, in which they knew the chances 
against them were as three to one, would puzzle many to 
answer, and I have never heard anyone give what seemed to 
me a proper explanation of it. 

Slavery was detrimental to the interests of the small farmers 
and settlers, because in raising their cotton by free labour they 
had to compete against the wealthy slaveowner with his slave- 
grown produce. It was detrimental to the interests of the 
labouring classes, because they had at all times to submit to 
the employers' terms, otherwise their places would be imme- 
diately filled by hired slaves. 

The institution was detrimental to the interests of the 
various grades of mechanics and artisans, insomuch that most 
determined efforts were often made by slaveowners to have 
the more intelligent negroes taught trades, which greatly 
enhanced tlieir value, even though they should be but indif- 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 35 

ferent workmen. It was also a common practice with master 
tradesmen to purchase likely negro lads, teach them trades, and 
so make them (the masters) more independent of free work- 
men, while planters, having a great desire to be independent 
of white or free skilled labour, would purchase a slave- 
mechanic, paying for him from three to four times the price of 
an ordinary hand. Thus a master mechanic might purchase a 
slave for 800 or 1000 dollars, keep him four or five years, teach 
him his trade, have his work all that time, and then sell him 
for three or four thousand dollars. 

This was particularly the case with such trades as coopers, 
carpenters and bricklayers, and led to frequent disputes be- 
tween master tradesmen and their workmen. Combination 
among Avorkmen was not at this time very far extended but 
was increasing, and some of the newspapers were bold enough 
to cautiously approach the subject and to throw out mild words 
of w^arning. In some of the larger foundries and engineering 
works a rule had been established that no slave should be 
employed in any capacity, and, in others, in no other capacity 
than that of a labourer. 

The relation between the planter or wealthy slaveowner 
and the artisan was somewhat sensitive. The slaveowner had 
no high regard for the artisan and would have been very glad 
if he could have done without Mm. As that could not be, and 
the artisan class could be a powerful factor in the control of 
public afiairs, it behoved the slaveowner to treat the artisan 
Avith all the deference and respect he could afford. 

It might not be out of place, and perhaps not altogether 
uninteresting, for me to relate an incident and conversation in 
wliich I took part, as illustrative of the kind of feeling which 
existed between the mechanical or artisan class and the wealthy 
planter and slaveowner, and the views of the latter on and 
their objections to emancipation. 

The following incident and conversation took place in 1859 : 
— Mr. C. was a wealthy sugar-planter; his estate and sugar 
manufacturing works were extensive ; he had superior vacuo 
apparatus for the manufacture of a high quality of sugar ; his 
large amount of machinery entailed upon him the necessity of 
employing skilled engineers, with w^hom he seemed to have had 
frequent controversies. There would no doubt be faults on 
both sides, but Mr. C. had the name of being somewhat proud 
and arrogant, and not very popular among the artisan class, 



36 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

whilst he, perhaps not without some reason, had conceived a 
hearty hatred for all classes of mechanics in general. He at 
last, however, as he imagined, got over his troubles and was 
now happily independent within himself. He had been able 
to purchase, at an enormous price, a slave who was not only 
educated, but a thoroughly learned engineer, and a perfect 
expert in that class of machinery. Mr. C. was now jubilant, 
because he was at last independent of these professionals who 
had given him so much annoyance ; and the subject of a good 
deal of chaff and merriment amongst that class was of Mr. C. 
and his " scienced nigger." 

Unfortunately, however, in the very middle of the sugar- 
making season, Mr. C's apparatus got out of order, and in 
such a way that tons of sugar were being lost by escaping into 
the engine pond, and the cause of the disarrangement could 
not be discovered. Mr. C. and his engineer tried hard to find 
out the defect, but without success. As the loss was enormous,, 
Mr. C. was in an awkward position. He disdained to apply to 
the regular practising engineers, who, he now feared, would turn 
the laugh against him. Eventually, he came to the senior 
partner of our firm, and consulted him as to getting an expert to 
try and find out and rectify the defect. I was immediately sent 
for as possessing some knowledge that way. I was ready to go at 
once, but having heard so much of the man, I stipulated upon 
a proper understanding before I went, which was that if I 
discovered the defect and rectified it, he should pay me a 
hundred dollars. If I failed to discover the defect and rectify 
it, I should charge nothing ; this was agreed to. 

From my experience in such things, and from the descrip- 
tion he gave, I had a very good idea of what would be the 
matter, having seen and rectified several similar cases before. 
On my arriving on the plantation, I found it to be, as I 
expected, a very trifling thing, which could be rectified in a 
few minutes, but away in a hidden part of the apparatus. I 
took care that no one should see what was wrong or what I 
rectified, and having ordered them to turn on steam and start 
the apparatus, everything was all right and going well within 
half-an-hour. 

In the meantime Mr. C, who had been out of sight for some 
time, came up. When he saw everything going on well he looked 
surprised, but made no remark. He examined and tested again 
and again the discharge water to see that it was free from sugar. 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 37 

"Is all right now?" he asked me. I nodded assent. He 
walked nervously back and forward for some time wdth a 
mingled expression of satisfaction and disappointment, while, 
I must confess, I stood with an ill-concealed look of triumph 
and suppressed merriment which no doubt slightly irritated 
him. Having examined everything carefully and satisfied 
himself that all was now right, he came up to me and handing 
me a roll of bank notes, said in a gruff tone, " Count and see 
if that is right." Having counted and found the hundred 
dollars all right, I asked if he wanted a receipt for it. " No," 
said he in the same tone, " I always trust to a man's honour." 

"You are very prompt in your payment, Mr. C," said I. 

" Yes, Mr. W.," said he, in a more deliberate tone, " because 
when I make a bad bargain I always wish to get done with it 
as soon as possible." I saw from this that he was inclined for 
an argument. 

" And do you consider," said I, " that the bargain you made 
\sdth me to-day is a bad bargain ? " 

" Well, if to pay a man a hundred dollars for half-an-hour's 
work is not a bad bargain I don't know w^hat is." 

" Oh very well," said I laughing, " I \sdll give you back your 
hundred dollars and put your apparatus as it was, and you can 
send your sugar into the engine pond as before." 

" Oh no, stop there," said he, " that is where you take the 
advantage. It is the same story with all you mechanical men ; 
that is where I say you are unreasonable." 

" Oh now, Mr. C.," said I, " you wish to bring up that old 
vexed question between planters and mechanics, and I don't 
wish to enter into it ; so if you will order them to bring out 
my horse I will start for home." 

" I shall order them to do nothing of the kind," said he ; 
" you shall come over first and ta,ke your dinner, and then 
after that you can go where you please." 

" Is your dinner worth eating ? " said I. 

" Well, it is just what I have for myself ; we hard-working 
men in the country can't afford to live as high as yo|i gentle- 
men mechanics do in the city." 

" Mr, W.," said he in a more serious tone as we walked 
towards the house ; " I know that I don't get a very good 
name among the artisan class, and particularly since I bought 
this man to take charge of my machinery. But you have no 
idea of the trouble I have had with workmen, and I know 



38 LIFE IX THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

that all white mechanics have an ill feeling against planters 
who employ slave mechanics, I have no doubt you must be 
well aware of that feeling ; but do you not think a man has a 
right to protect himself ? " 

" Oh for myself or for our fu^m," replied I, laughing, " it is 
all the better for us ; we get the greatest part of our work 
from plantations where slave mechanics are employed, as it is 
there where the greatest breakage and damage to machinery 
takes place." 

" But I mean," said he, " the working mechanics who are 
employed on the plantations." 

" Oh I know," said I, " that such a feeling does exist, not 
so much against the planters as against the master mechanics 
in the cities and other places. That feeling is not very general 
yet, but it is likely to increase, as I see the newspapers have 
taken it up. No slave mechanics are allowed in our works," 

" But what can they do 1 they can't help themselves ; if the 
artisans can't find employment here and are not satisfied they 
^vill go elsewhere, — everything will find its level." 

"That," said I, " would be applicable in ordinary cases or in 
a free State. But you must bear in mind that mechanics and 
artisans of different kinds are increasing and getting to be a 
powerful factor in the government of the State, and that your 
' peculiar institution ' is tolerated and supported by a large 
body of men who derive little or no benefit from it, and I 
should say it would be bad policy for slaveowners to make the 
'institution' obnoxious to that class." 

Mr. C. looked steadily at me for a moment as if he would 
read me through. 

"Mr. W.," said he, "I understand you were some time in 
the British West Indies?" 

I replied in the affirmative. 

"And you have seen the condition into which these fine 
Islands have been brought by emancipation, and would you, 
or any man in his senses, desire to see these States thro^vn 
into the same state of ruin ? Would that benefit the artisan 
class or any class 1 Where would your trade be then 1 " 

I admitted it would be disastrous, and that the question was 
a serious one, and that the subject should be handled with the 
greatest caution. I admitted having seen the disastrous effects 
produced by the sudden emancipation in the British West 
Indies; "but this," I said, "was not so much caused by emanci- 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 39 

pation as by the unwisdom of the policy which accompanied it 
and followed it." 

" Why, how do you mean ? " 

"I mean," said I, "that I think the negro might have been 
emancipated without being puffed up and made to believe that 
he was a god, and having his mind poisoned against his former 
masters and against anything like living by honest labour." 

" You don't mean to say that the British Government did 
that ? " 

" No, but agitators were allowed to do it, and that brought 
on the ruin of both the negro and the planter." 

" We are not much troubled with agitators here," said he, 
"they have made attempts, but we made short work of them; 
it got us a bad name, but it had to be done." 

" I have often heard it condemned," said I, " but I believe 
that if something of the kind had been done with the agitators 
after the emancipation in the British West Indies, we would 
have heard less of fine colonies ruined, and you would not now 
have been so bitter against any idea of emancipation in these 
States." 

" Things might not have been so bad," said he, " but they 
could never do much good ; white labourers could not stand 
the climate, and a negro can never be made to work except as 
a slave." 

" Oh, I beg your pardon," said I ; " some parts of the West 
Indies have quite recovered. Would you be surprised to learn 
that I have seen in the British West Indies, fifteen years after 
the emancipation, a planter getting as good a day's work from 
a negro for forty cents as you get within ten hours out of any 
one of your slaves ; and a task of field work for thirty cents 
equal to at least two-thirds of what you get from one of your 
slaves in the longest day ; of course in addition to this they 
have a house and a piece of ground." 

"But," said he, "the planters can't depend on them; they 
don't work steady." 

" Oh yes, they are under compulsion ; in the crop season 
they seldom lose a day. At other times of the year there are 
days and parts of days allowed by agreement for them to work 
their piece of ground." 

" You astonish me. When, where, and how was that system 
carried out V 

"In the island of Trinidad, some ten or twelve years after 



40 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

the emancipation, a law was enacted by the colonial legisla- 
ture called ' The Master and Servants Act,' by which all 
labourers — unless a special agreement to the contrary was 
made — were deemed to work under a contract which could 
not be broken or terminated by either party, without fourteen 
days' notice being given, and any labourer absenting himself 
from his work without a just and reasonable cause, or without 
giving the fourteen days' notice, was subject to a fine of 
twenty-five dollars or forty days' imprisonment, as a magistrate 
might inflict." 

" But why ? What is that but slavery 1 " 

" Oh no ; it was just a penalty for breach of contract. The 
masters were subject to the same penalty if they broke the 
contract ; but they knew the law, and did not break it. When 
the negro got to know the law, and knew that it would be 
enforced, he did not break it either. .But then the words 
' absenting himself from his work ' embraced a good deal. I 
have known a negro coming to his work twenty minutes late, 
and then being insolent to the overseer when remonstrated 
with, taken before a magistrate and punished by a fine of ten 
dollars or twenty days' imprisonment." 

" Well, that is surely rigid 1 " 

"Yes; but it came within the Act, as absenting himself 
from his work without a just and reasonable cause. This had 
to be proved ; but no employer would prosecute, and no 
magistrate would convict for such an offence as this unless it 
was found to be an aggravated case and against a very bad 
subject." 

" How did this law work 1 " asked Mr. C, becoming deeply 
interested. 

" It worked remarkably well. It enabled the employer to 
carry on his work steadily without being subject to having his 
whole works stopped or paralyzed by the whim of one or two 
refractory malcontents to shew their importance. On the 
other hand it protected the labourer from being made the 
convenience of the planter or other employer. It insured him 
steady employment and prompt payment, and though he might 
grumble a little when the work was before him, he rejoiced all 
the more when the pay day came. It was not the interest of 
the employer to be too rigid. If a man wanted to be away 
at any time he had only to ask leave, — it was seldom refused. 
If a labourer was dissatisfied with his employer, he gave four- 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 41 

teen days' notice and left. If an employer found that he had 
a bad character among his people, he gave him fourteen days' 
notice to leave. It had the effect of lifting the negro from 
his demoralised condition : it gave him some idea of regularity, 
law, and order. It stopped their wandering about from place 
to place, caused them to settle on one estate, where they got 
their house and ground. The wages now earned by them 
were more than doubled, and as they were steadily settled, the 
products of their grounds were realised ; and as they were 
temperate and did not spend their money in drink, a marked 
difference took place in their dress and persons. They soon 
had Sunday clothes and went to church. A marked improve- 
ment took place in their cottages. New and better articles of 
furniture, and other personal and family comforts were added. 
In fact, within four or five years after the passing of the 
Act, many of them had saved sufficient to own considerable 
property." 

" But where were your agitators now?" said Mr. C. 

" These agitating ' friends of humanity ' had done all they 
could do. They had preached the negro into degradation, vice, 
and misery. They had got all out of them they could get, and 
they sneaked out of sight. A wise governor and legislator 
then determined by the firm hand of the law to save the colony 
and the ignorant part of the population from the wreck and 
degradation into which these agitators had thrown them." 

" But," said Mr. C, " that act could never have been passed 
if the legislature had been elected by the popular vote of the 
whole people the same as with us." 

" Most certainly it could not if the franchise extended to 
the negroes, who would be led by agitators." 

" Well, that," said Mr. C, " is just where our difficulty lies. 
I believe every planter and slaveowner in the United States, 
if he was promised compensation like the West Indian planters, 
and a code of labour laws such as you describe, would advocate 
emancipation at once. But that is impossible. Under our 
system of popular government, agitators would then have free 
run ; they would work a greater wreck than even in the West 
Indies ; they would control the legislature, and a negro anarchy 
of the worst kind would be the result." 

Dinner was now over, we had smoked our cigars in the 
verandah, and we both rose to go to our respective businesses. 
Mr. C. had forgotten all about his bad bargain, and I felt 



42 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

pleased that I had had another opportunity of laying before an 
American planter the system of labour laws as adopted and 
practised in Trinidad, although only as before to meet with the 
same objection, and to have the same obstacle pointed out. 

And I could not help reflecting how often it happened that 
wise and temperate movements were so frequently debarred by 
the intemperate ravings of party demagogues who, while 
imagining or pretending to advocate some great reform or 
r0 mse measure, managed by shameless effrontery to gain the 
ascendancy and supplant better counsels, and by their mad 
extremes or fanatical partisanism frustrated wise courses of 
legislation. 

It has been set forth that books and pamphlets condemnatory 
of slavery and descriptive of its horrors were forbidden in the 
South. I do not know that there was any statutory law or 
penalty prohibiting their circulation, or, if there was, it was 
not strictly carried out. Plenty of such literature was to be 
seen, although it was mostly held up to scoff and ridicule. 
Indeed many of these publications were so far from the facts, 
and so silly, sensational, and absurd, that I beheve the 
circulation of them was encouraged rather than suppressed by 
the votaries of slavery. 

It seems to be a marked characteristic of all Americans to 
have what may be called a patriotic veneration for their 
country, amounting in many to enthusiasm. This was not 
only a love for the United States far above all other 
nations, but also an ardent love for their own geographical 
location, and their State, its society, its government and insti- 
tutions. This was jDarticularly marked among all the natives 
of the South of whatever class, and no matter how distasteful 
or oppressive any of their o\\ti laws or institutions might be 
upon themselves, or however desirous they might be to have 
them altered or repealed, they were exceedingly jealous of any 
encroachment by outsiders, and would brook no interference 
from the Northern States. This inherent feeling was very 
strong among the small farmers and settlers in the South, and 
when any of these sensational works were read by them they 
would regard them as an insult to their beloved South, and 
would probably throw them in the fire, with the exclamation 
that they, themselves, were no friends of slavery, and did not 
sympathise with the slaveowners ; but would prefer them a 
thousand times to the lying hypocrites who wrote such fables. 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 43. 

This tended to embitter them against all abolition sentiments, 
and made the very name of an abolitionist hateful and disgust- 
ing to the people. 

Nevertheless, they had no great sympathy with the over- 
bearing manner of the slaveowner, and the terrorising system 
of slavery ^not out of any sympathy for the slave ; for, although 
they had no great hatred for the negro, yet they never regarded 
him as the equal of the white man, and considered that he was 
never intended or destined for any other purpose than that of 
a slave, and they dreaded most of all the bearding insolence of 
the negro if he should be set free amongst them. But they 
complained that legislation should be almost exclusively for 
the benefit of the slaveholding interest and restraint put upon 
the freedom of speech. These people did not venture to speak 
their sentiments openly in the face of the political mob, but 
in quiet conversations with those whom they thought they 
might trust they would speak their minds pretty freely on 
what they regarded as laws existing entirely for the benefit of 
the wealthy slaveowner, and to the detriment of the poorer 
non-slaveholder. 

I found there, as I have found it elsewhere, that there is a 
very great difference between public opinion, or rather the 
pretended display of public opinion, extorted or carried by a 
coup de main from a body of men collectively at a public 
meeting or demonstration and the private opinion given by 
each individually in the quiet of his o^vn fireside. 

Political tricksters will, of course, pretend to scout this idea 
and say how should it be so ; but no one knows better than 
themselves that it is so, and they as well know how to pack a 
meeting, and arrange matters so as to make the apparent 
display of public sentiment show in the manner they wish. 

Meanwhile, the mechanical or artisan class w^ere getting 
bolder and less reserved in expressing their sentiments as they 
increased in numbers, as towns increased in size, and as the 
country became more thickly populated. A year or two before 
the war, I have heard it remarked, that sentiments were now 
spoken openly which a few years before would have made their 
authors liable to a ride on a rail or a coat of tar and feathers. 

There is no question that a feeling of aversion to slavery was 
fast spreading amongst a numerous and powerful class in the 
South previous to the war. Unfortunately those foolish sen- 
sational books, and the gross intemperate ra^dngs and ofiensive 



44 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

epithets of Northern fanatics did much to check that feeling, 
and tended to create antagonistic sentiments between the 
North and the non-slaveholding population of the South. I 
am quite certain that had not this ill feeling been stirred up 
between North and South slavery would within a very few 
years have been confined to very narrow limits, and would 
soon have been abolished altogether. 

But reforms of any kind inust emanate from the people of 
the State, and through the State Legislature. To such an 
extent had the strife and ill feeling been stirred up between 
the North and South by the untruthful and slanderous repre- 
sentations of the fanatics of the North, and the swaggering 
buUyism of the fire-eaters of the South, that any pressure 
brought to bear either by the Federal Government at Wash- 
ington or by any party in the North would have been 
repudiated and rejected with scorn and contempt even by the 
strongest opponent of slavery in the South. 

I may here state with some authority that the greater part 
of the men of the Southern army, who really fought the battles 
of the South, did not fight to maintain slavery, and the ques- 
tion of slavery was never before their eyes. So far as my 
observations went, slavery was only a minor point of little or 
no interest to a large portion of the population, and could 
never of itself have led to secession and war. Any interference 
in that or any other law of the State which did not conflict 
with the Federal Constitution involved a principle of much 
gTeater importance, almost unanimously cherished by the 
Southern people, which w^as, the sovereign rights of individual 
States to make and maintain their own laws and institutions, 
and it was upon this principle alone that slaveholders and 
politicians got the large body of the people to follow them. 

But even with this powerful handle, it would have been 
difficult, and I believe almost impossible, to have brought about 
a, dissolution of the Union by honest means. 

To show how public sentiment was swayed or overruled and 
the people were led into this war, it may be necessary for me 
to say a few words on politics as they were at that time, and 
show how State legislation was conducted, and how secession 
was effected. 



CHAPTER III. 

POLITICS AND POLITICIANS IN 1860— HOW THEY MANAGED THEIE BUSINESS. 

The interest taken in politics by the American people is well 
known, and requires no description from me ; but I have often 
imagined that while the individual plumes himself in being a 
ruler, the individual has often, after all, very little control in 
the management of public affairs. 

The boast of the American people is their freedom of govern- 
ment, where freedom of speech and sentiment and a voice in 
the legislation of their country is the acknowledged birthright 
of all. Their condemnation of despotic governments, where 
they allege a potentate holds the people in subjection by means 
of a standing army, is often freely expressed. But I have 
often wondered whether sometimes the American people, par- 
ticularly in the South at that time, were not to a considerable 
extent held in subjection by a standing army, and that army 
of a most unscrupulous, depraved, and corrupt nature — I mean 
the army of professional politicians and their immediate fol- 
lowers, who called themselves " the people," composed chiefly 
of professional gamblers, cafe loafers, supported by street 
rowdies and others of a similar class who controlled public 
ajffairs. These assumed the leaderships of the different political 
parties, formed caucuses, nominated candidates, and controlled 
elections. 

These political instruments always took care to strengthen 
their position by their loud plaudits of some popular statesman 
or leader who might for the time being hold sway over the 
minds of a large body of the people, and whom they sought to 
deify, and to whose principles they professed most rigidly to 
adhere ; and though it was necessary for their occupation that 
there should be two or more parties divided upon minor points, 
those of the South were of course all united in the one 
Southern doctrine that the great fundamental principles of 
human rights and human liberties were based upon the 
Southern institution of slavery. One of their chief objects 
was to agitate, engender, and keep up an antagonistic feeling 



46 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

against the abolitionists of the North. In this they were 
strongly supported by the slaveholding planters and other 
pro-slavery fire-eaters. 

In Louisiana, as in many other States, the incumbent of 
€very public office in the State, from the governor to the 
village constable, was the issue of an election, and, as the 
terms of holding offices were limited, elections were of frequent 
occurrence. 

These public offices did not seem to be regarded so much as 
actual requirements or the duties attached to them of so much 
importance for the public good as they were regarded as gifts in 
the hands of the people to be bestowed on such as they deemed 
deserving of them or whom they delighted to honour and reward. 
The capabilities of the candidate for the duties of the office 
were seldom taken into consideration. The only consideration 
was what claims the candidate might have, or be supposed to 
have, for services rendered to the State or to his party. I 
have known men holding high positions who could not read or 
write intelligibly. Each successful candidate had in his turn 
the appointment of his clerks and subordinates, whose claims 
were of course in proportion to the assistance they might have 
given in promoting his election. 

There were, no doubt, occasional instances where some really 
deserving person, perhaps some industrious man ^vith a large 
family, who, having been disabled or otherwise become unfit 
to support himself and family, might get elected to some 
minor office. Such instances were generally in country dis- 
tricts, where the political army did not thrive so well, or, if 
otherwise, it Avas more a stroke of policy intended to cover, 
and did cover, a multitude of sins. 

There were what were called the fat offices in wliich the 
pickings were good. To these the incumbents were elected, 
but for short periods, and in which it was supposed that they 
and their followers were to make hay while the sun shone, and 
then come out and give some one else a chance, an opportunity 
of which they seldom failed to avail themselves. 

Legislative offices were not so directly remunerative, the 
pay of a member of the State Legislature being eight dollars 
per day for the time the session lasted, which seldom 
exceeded sixty days each year, and each member had his 
obligations to fulfil to his followers. 

It was generally considered an open secret that legislators 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 47 

swayed legislation pretty much to suit the interests of them- 
selves and their immediate followers. To effect this they had 
many facilities. 

A great source of wealth in the United States and also in 
the individual States was the enormous revenue derived from 
the sale of public lands. 

These lands were originally the property of the United 
States, but large grants of land were made from the Federal 
Government to the Government of each separate State for the 
purpose of forming a fund to promote various purposes, one 
being public education, but the most important was internal 
improvements. These comprised the making of roads, bridges, 
canals, railroads, river embankments, draining of swamp lands, 
etc., within the State. 

The regulations of applying these funds and carrying out 
these works being of course under control and sanction of the 
State Legislature, some were carried out under the direction 
of the State officers and engineers. But in the case of railways 
got up by a company, I think the way in Louisiana at that 
time was for the promoters to apply to the State Legislature 
for a bill and an appropriation to carry out the enterprise. If 
the bill was passed, a grant of money was voted out of the 
internal improvement fund towards carrying out the enterprise, 
and then the State became a shareholder in the railway to the 
amount of the grant so voted. 

When any of these improvements were carried out in 
districts of rich productive lands hitherto unsettled and not 
bought up, the attention of land purchasers and speculators 
was quickly drawn to it, and the land was quickly entered and 
rapidly increased in value. 

The directing of these internal improvements, the passing of 
bills for and voting of grants to enterprises, formed a con- 
siderable part of the State legislation. 

A bill with the usual grant of money might be applied for 
to construct a railway through a large tract of public land 
hitherto unsettled. The promoters might be gentlemen who 
had some interest in land speculation as well as railw^ay 
enterprise, and it required a little care and management to 
pilot the bill through the House. 

The bill was entrusted to the care of one or more influential 
members who might be well up in that class of business, and 
who in their turn became a little interested in its success. 



48 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

They adroitly canvassed their fellow-members for their votes 
and influence. As it involved a grant of public money, the 
latter of course declined, asserting that they saw no reason 
why they should vote for the bill. " But, my dear sir, I can 
show you fifty reasons why you should vote for the bill." " I 
fear it will take a hundred reasons to convince me." A 
hundred, or as many reasons as might be agreed upon would be 
guaranteed, a sufiicient number of votes would be obtained, 
and the bill would be passed. 

Simultaneous with the passing of the act, large tracts of the 
best land in the vicinity of the proposed railway, amounting 
perhaps to several hundred thousand acres, would be applied 
for by those in the combination. This application did not 
amount to absolute entry or purchase of the land, and left 
sufficient opportunity for the applicant to resile from the 
purchase within a certain time. It gave merely a prior claim 
preliminary to entry, and the application was registered, but 
the applicant was not called upon to implement the entry till 
the books, which were generally about six months behind, were 
brought up to the date of the registration. The applicant was 
then called upon to complete the entry, and pay for the land 
at the present Government price. If he failed in that, he for- 
feited his prior claim, and the right to entry of the land passed 
to the next registered applicant. The Government price was 
at that time about one dollar per acre, paid on entering tho 
land. 

In the meantime the combination had made application and 
secured the prior claim on the land, and could dispose of it. 
As soon as the bill was passed, smaller speculators were ready 
to buy up the land in large tracts at from two to five dollars 
per acre, and if the enterprise had the appearance of being 
speedily carried out and the location good, there was generally 
a rush of settlers seeking to purchase, and the price of the land 
would be run up to ten or fifteen dollars per acre before the 
original combination were called upon to pay the one dollar 
per acre of entry-money. 

Thus enormous sums were made off* such enterprises by 
these combinations, which handsomely recouped all expenses 
they had been put to in furnishing " reasons " to legislators 
to induce them to vote for the bill. While this could 
not be called altogether honest procedure, the result of the 
whole, if successful, wrought out considerable good in the 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 49 

main — in a railway constructed, a valuable communication 
established, a large tract of country opened up, cleared, and 
settled, the products of the State increased, a great many 
benefited, and no one injured, at the expense of a wild tract 
of waste land which had hitherto lain dormant, unknown, 
and profitless. 

Such legislative proceedings were not much inquired into or 
criticised, for, whilst it was this kind of legislation that was 
most profitable to the legislators, it was also the kind of legis- 
lation that was most profitable and useful to the public. 

A considerable portion of the legislative body consisted of 
lawyers. These had for their main object to provide food for 
their fraternity. 

This they contrived to do by constantly amending acts, 
inserting new clauses in acts, and passing new acts without 
repealing the old ones, and as there was a new legislature every 
two years, much confusion was the result ; every act seemed to 
be counteracted by another act, no man could tell what was the 
law, and every lawyer could find a law to suit his notion and 
neither counsel nor judge could unravel the tangled web. 

I have heard it said that such places as Louisiana, Arkansas, 
and Texas, were lawless places. No term could be more inap- 
propriate or absurd. They were the very reverse of lawless, 
they had too much law. They were completely surfeited by 
overdoses of legislation. If a law existed to hang a man for 
murder, it seemed quite easy to find another which would get 
him ofi*. Hence the necessity of having sometimes to resort to 
Lynch law, which was perhaps the only law that some of the 
most hardened ruffians stood in dread of. Another reason why 
law was so often set aside was because it was beyond the means 
of most men. The swarms of lawyers fostered by the lawyer- 
legislators so hedged round about and levied toll at the gate 
of the temple of justice as to make it unapproachable. 

The carrying of weapons and the frequent resort to the 
bowie knife or revolver has been much commented upon, but I 
believe much of the practice of carrying arms arose from the 
impossibility of obtaining justice or redress by legal means. 
It no doubt seemed to many at that time, as it may seem to 
many at the present time, somewhat unreasonable that the 
temple of justice, established and supported by the nation to 
maintain order and equity between man and man, to which 
men should have recourse for the peaceful settlement of 

D 



50 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

unavoidable disjDutes, should have become a thing to be 
shunned and abhorred as uncertain in its issues and certain 
only in its exorbitant expenses and exactions upon both just 
and unjust. 

It seemed in civil actions an absurd thing that a dispute 
about 100 dollars could not be settled ^\ithout an expenditure 
of 300 dollars, and then the issue often left open to question. 

In criminal cases it unfortunately happened that the rowdy 
element had too often a sway over the judge's election, and 
his decision was oftener influenced by the so-called popular 
feeling than by the enforcement of the law. 

Tills state of things tended to bring law, or rather the ad- 
ministration of law, into contempt, and men were in a manner 
compelled to take law into their own hands. This, however, 
like other remedies, can be carried to excess. 

To account for this state of matters it may be necessary to 
take a glance at the class who ruled the political system and 
how they managed their business. 

These professional politicians, though nominally of some 
profession or business, seldom attended to anything but politics, 
unless it might be gambling, which was recognised among 
themselves as a legitimate and honourable profession. Many 
of them were office-holders, ex-office-holders, or office-seekers. 
The leaders among them were to outward appearance by no 
means of a depraved or degraded class. They were well 
dressed, affable in their manner, and somewhat courteous. 
They frequented largely the cafes, billiard rooms, or other 
public places. They were ever ready to shake hands and treat 
about election times, or introduce a country rustic or a working 
mechanic to his excellency the governor or to an honourable 
member of the legislature or other high functionary, and, as 
they were always strong canvassers for the candidate of their 
party, they strove to be bland and agreeable. 

Their power in the political world lay not so much in their 
influence over elections as in their entire control in the nomina- 
tion of candidates, which they managed something after this 
fashion : — On the time approaching for an election the matter 
was talked over among themselves, each "party" respectively, 
as to whose turn it was to share the spoils. 

Some little regard is given to outward appearance, oratorical 
powers, notoriety, and political standing of the candidate, and 
how he would be likely to take. Thus : D. might have the 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 51 

highest claim, but he might lack oratorical powers, or his 
character might be too notorious to bring him forward as a 
candidate, and he might be defeated by the candidate of the 
rival party. Therefore, C. is agreed upon, with the under- 
standing that if elected he will share the emoluments with 
D., who will assist him in his duties and in carrying out his 
arrangements. In like manner F., H., and J. are agreed upon 
for the other different offices. 

A meeting must now be called to give effect to this, and the 
arrangements are made. Ten, twenty, or as many of them- 
selves as possible will be forward early and take their seats 
close to the speaker's chair ; fifty or sixty or more of their 
followers of the rougher or lower classes will be drummed up 
and got ready for the occasion. These Avill be placed where 
they can show or act to the best advantage, and the order of 
business is arranged. One or two members of the press, also 
of the clique and well paid for it, will be present and report as 
directed. 

Next is seen posters on the street corners and fences 
announcing that a meeting of all true Democrats will be held 
in the court-house on night at p.m. for the 

purpose of nominating candidates for the offices of, etc. These 
posters, dated a week previous, will be posted perhaps a few 
hours before the hour appointed for the meeting. 

The meeting takes place, few people know anything about 
it, and make little inquiry about it; it is filled up as arranged. 
Brown moves that Jones takes the chair. Jones is therefore 
unanimously appointed chairman, he appoints Smith secretary. 
C.'s nomination is now moved by Brown, seconded by Green, 
and ayed by the sixty followers. F., H., and J., are nominated, 
seconded, and ayed in the same way, and the voice of the 
people has been heard. 

No time is lost making speeches at these meetings. The 
whole thing is over in half-an-hour, and all now flock to the 
cafes to have a drink at the expense of the nominees. Three 
cheers are given for the candidates— another and another 
learns the news — another and another drink — and the enthu- 
siasm seems to arise spontaneously. 

Next morning the party journals publish in glowing details, 
in a column headed by large type, " Great Meeting of the 
Democratic Convention ! Nomination of Candidates ! " Then 
follows an eulogy on each of the candidates, and their high 



52 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

qualifications for the office, as compared to any candidate which 
has been or may be brought forward by the opposite party. 

About the same time, perhaps the same day (as there is no 
danger of any hostile feeling between the parties) the other 
party would have their meeting carried through in precisely 
the same way, and heralded through the streets and cafes, and 
endorsed by the journals of their party, and from this time 
till the election the names of the candidates stand at the head 
of the leading columns of the journals of the respective parties 
as the nominees of the party convention. 

In all of these proceedings the real or actual public had 
little or no hand or cognisance whatever, until the names 
appeared in the newspapers, and then they had the glorious 
privilege of voting for the candidate of which party they 
preferred. 

It must not be for a moment supposed that this corrupt 
system arose and existed through the ignorance of the masses, 
or from their lack of interest or indifference. They were a 
quick, intelligent people, took great interest in politics, seldom 
neglected to vote at elections, were constant readers of the 
newspapers, and were often quite alive to the unworthiness of 
the candidate which they had to vote for. But they were so 
infatuated with their own national system, which they con- 
sidered to be superior to anything else in the world, that they 
could not entertain the idea of any fault or defect, direct or 
indirect. When this state of things was clearly shown them 
they would allow there was something wrong, but this they 
regarded as the fault of the hour, not of the system, which 
must and would be put all right by and bye, by the people 
taking the matter into their own hands and putting down 
these rascals who were controlling nominations and elections, 
and corrupting politics and legislation. While this impracti- 
cable remedy was advocated by every one it was carried out 
by no one. What was everybody's business was nobody's 
business, and no one took the initiative. At the same time, 
what was everybody's property was nobody's property and 
became the prey of the vilest scum. 

Meanwhile none were louder in denouncing this political 
corruption than the very candidates who had been nominated 
through its agency. They had now taken the stump in full 
voice. The candidates of each party against their respective 
opponents nightly declaimed from platforms in the open air, 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 53 

each avowing themselves to be the representatives of no clique, 
caucus, or faction, but that of the people — the actual and 
genuine people, the working, producing class, the backbone 
and sinew of the nation. They promised, if elected, great 
reforms, by putting down these hole-and-corner cliques and 
-caucuses that usurped the name of the people. They would 
put legislation more directly into the hands of the people, and 
purify the ballot box. This latter phrase had at that time 
been remembered from earliest recollection by the oldest 
inhabitant as a parrot cry at elections, and I presume con- 
tinues down to the present day without much aflfecting the 
purity of the box. 

These harangues went on almost every night by the candi- 
dates or their supporters, and as the weather was fine, people 
were out walking, and stopped to listen; and as there was no 
lack of eloquence, and the orators well knew what key to 
touch, many who had before known and detested them, came 
a,way allowing that " there was at least a good deal of truth 
in what they said." 

And so matters went on. People who had work or business 
to attend to did not interest themselves much in corruption in 
politics. It did not directly affect them. They felt taxation 
but little. The country was rich, and teeming with resources, 
a,nd there was plenty for everybody. The people were fond of 
politics — liked to talk of them. " Corruption " gave them 
something to talk about. Elections were an amusement ; 
they liked to attend them, and to talk of the chances of the 
respective candidates, of the number of votes they would get. 
Bet on them, odds or even, two, three, or five to one on so and 
so, just as a man would talk about or bet on a cock-fight or 
horse-race. 

The people were proud of their government — their political 
system — laws and institutions which they maintained to be 
the best in the world, and believed this none might gainsay. 

These office-holders, let them be what they might, when in 
office were always exceedingly courteous, civil, and obliging to 
all, and showed none of that grufi" incivility which is too often 
met with among such functionaries in Great Britain. 

But still, looking at the matter in the theoretical light which 
sets forth that the nation is ruled by the voice and choice of 
the people, it does seem ludicrous when you come to look at 
how the matter is carried out in practice. 



64 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

As all this is more observable to an outsider, I may give aa 
an illustration the substance of a sort of bantering conversa- 
tion which once took place in my hearing. 

Two Scotchmen, both employed or connected with an 
engineering establishment, whom we shall call Mr. B. and Mr. 
W. B. had recently become naturalised, and had thus become 
a citizen of the United States. W. had not been naturalised, 
and was an alien. 

The early breakfast was over, and it was the time of going 
to work for the day when the following conversation took 
place : — 

W. — So you are not going down to the works to-day, B. ? 

B. — (Jocularly) ISTo, sir ; I am to-day going to exercise that 
great and glorious privilege, the birthright of every American 
citizen. You see, W., if you had taken my advice and got 
naturalised like me, you might to-day have been exercising the 
same privilege. 

W. — Some men will be thrown idle and lose their day, and 
the work ^\'ill be kept back by your not being there. 

£. — Can't help that, duties as a citizen must be attended to. 

W. — So much for citizenship. The election to-day is for a 
town constable for one year, the emoluments about five 
hundred dollars, while the expense and loss caused by the 
election to you and me and others will amount to four times 
that sum. 

B. — That is very true, but then it is the principle that I 
look to. 

W. — Principle forsooth ! you have in what you call your 
great privilege to-day your choice to vote for one of two men, 
N. or C. ; do you think either of those men is a fit and proper 
man to fill the office, or would be your choice ? 

B. — Certainly not, I allow that neither of these men is a fit 
or proper man for the office. 

W. — Further, do you think if you was to search the to^vn 
and country through you could find two bigger rascals 1 

B. — That may be, but they are the nominees of the party. 

W. — Why were they nominated ? Who nominated them ? 

B — Oh, that I don't know. The party nominated them.. 
It is the fault of those who so nominated them, but that don't 
affect the principle. 

W. — Why did you not object to their nomination, or had 
you a voice at all in the nomination? 



THE SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR. 55 

B. — I never knew when or how they were nominated. I 
see what you are driving at. That is an evil, no doubt, but it 
is the fault of the people that don't attend better to these 
things. 

W. — Then why is it never attended to ? I suppose you are 
satisfied to be between the devil and the deep sea so long as 
you have the glorious privilege of choosing which you would 
prefer, but you must vote for the one or the other. 

B. — Oh no, don't go so far as that. I don't need to vote 
for either unless I like. 

W. — Well, be thankful for that alternative, it is certainly 
the best of the three, so I think you should consult your own 
interest and those of your fellows-workmen and go down to the 
works, and not be a party to putting either of such men into 
office, but let them fight dog, fight devil at the election. 

B. — Well, to tell you the truth, I would much rather go to 
work and have nothing to do with it, but I promised H. C. 
that I would vote for C, and I do not like to break my word. 

W. — No, you were bored night and day until you promised, 
and of course you would get into the black books with your 
party if you kept away. So much for your liberties and glori- 
ous privileges. I thank my stars I am not a citizen. 



SECTION II. 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT 



CHAPTER IV. 

BATON ROUGE, THE CAPITAL OF LOUISIANA IN 1860— STATE FAIR— PRESI- 
DENTIAL ELECTION— STATE OF PARTIES— NOMINATION OF LINCOLN — 
HIS SUPPOSED POLITICAL VIEWS— OBSERVATIONS ON HIS GENERAL 
CHARACTER AND QUALIFICATIONS— SOUTHERN OPINIONS OF HIM. 

On the left bank of the Mississippi river, about 130 miles 
above New Orleans, is the city of Baton Rouge. This place 
is finely situated on the first point of high land which meets 
the eye on ascending the Mississippi, It stands on a pleasant 
elevation and is (or was at that time) a dry, clean town, and a 
somewhat pleasant place to live in. 

The place was in 1860 the capital or seat of Government of 
the State of Louisiana. At the lower end of the city was 
situated the Capitol, or House of Parliament, or State 
Legislature, a somewhat imposing structure, and presenting a 
very fine appearance from the river. Here sat the State 
Legislators. Near to the Capitol, a little further do^vn was 
another building of nearly the same size and design, and 
similar appearance from the river, but of a very different 
nature. It was the deaf and dumb asylum. There was also 
the State penitentiary and other State institutions. These 
buildings and a large part of the city were burned and levelled 
to the ground during the war. At the upper end of the city 
was one of the principal United States arsenals in the Souths 
and a garrison with barracks for about 1000 men. 

In this arsenal large stores of ordnance, small arms, 
ammunition, and army equipments were manufactured and kept, 
and the place was garrisoned by a detachment of United 
States troops, a part of the regular standing army of the 
United States. 

This arsenal Avas the depot from which all the forts in the 
gulf States were supplied with munitions of war. The forts 
on the Indian frontier, the forts at Galveston, and along the 
coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, 
were also supplied from this depot. There were several 
powder magazines, immense piles of shot and shell, about 1000 



60 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

pieces of heavy ordnance, and about 200,000 stands of small 
arms, many of the latter no doubt were not of the newest 
patterns, with large stores of ammunition and cavalry equipage. 

A number of men were constantly employed here in the 
manufacture of gun-carriages and other stores and equipments. 
It might be said to have been the Woolwich of the South. 

This city, though not by any means a large commercial city, 
was a place of considerable importance, was a great rendezvous 
of the sugar and cotton planters, and being the seat of 
Government and the residence of the Governor and other 
State officials, it was the centre of politics. 

It was in this place, after having been for some years 
engaged in engineering in different parts of the State, that I 
resided for several years immediately preceding the war, and 
I had become connected as a junior partner in an engineering 
establishment in the place. The same company also carried 
on a sawmilling and wood factory and a coal and steamboat 
business. 

Though not a citizen of the United States, I had, partly for 
pleasure and partly for policy, been an active member of the 
town company of rifle volunteers. 

In the summer of 1860 everything went well and prosperous 
in this place. The fluctuations of business were here not much 
felt. People in general were contented and happy, and the 
community had been greatly enlivened this summer by the first 
introduction of a state fair, or exhibition, which proved a great 
success. Permission to hold the fair within the spacious 
garrison grounds had been given by the United States officers, 
who vied with the citizens in their endeavours to encourage 
and promote the object. Visitors and exhibitors came from 
all parts of the United States. Many Northern manufacturers 
exhibited their goods and obtained orders, all tending to revive 
that friendly trade and communication which canting fanatics 
and strife manufacturers had done so much to impair. Many 
of the planters in the neighbourhood gave their slaves a holiday 
to visit the exhibition, and to see these sable gentry happy for 
the day, dressed in the height of fashion, meeting with friends 
from other plantations, gracefully pulling off their gloves to 
shake hands, or the "gentlemen" raising their hats to "ladies" 
at an introduction, was certainly a part of the exhibition not 
the least worth seeing. 

Several companies of volunteers from different parts of the 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 61 

State joined with the United States * troops stationed in the 
garrison in a grand review, and the several volunteer com- 
panies competed for prizes to be awarded to the best drilled 
companies, the officers of the army being the judges. The 
company of which I was a member won the second prize, which 
we carried off amid the loud plaudits of the officers and men 
of the United States army. We little dreamt at the time of 
the very different terms on which we were destined to meet 
ere one short year had passed. 

The never-failing theme of politics, which during the excite- 
ment of the exhibition had partially been set aside by the 
population at this place, before the exhibition grounds had 
been cleared off, was renewed with a vigour as if to make up 
for lost time, and culminated in the dissolution of the Union, 
followed by the war and all its disastrous consequences. 

To break up and dissever a great Federal Union, the very 
name of which was and always had been cherished with almost 
a sacred reverence by a great people, and had been held up by 
them as the pride of the world, may be regarded as a most 
striking instance of the instability of public opinion. 

This was the more striking in this case when it is remem- 
bered that the section which had hitherto been apparently, 
and I believe sincerely, the most zealous in their desire to 
maintain the Union should make the first move to disinte- 
grate it. 

I well remember the storm of indignation which scarcely a 
year before passed over the whole South when the first idea of 
disunion was mooted in Congress — this was by a Northern 
abolitionist. It was when Mr. N. P. Banks, Speaker in the 
House of Representatives, at Washington, in a moment of 
excitement used the expression — " Let the Union slide ! " — 
" Let Mr. Banks slide," was the echo from nearly every 

* It may be here explained that the term "United States army" or 
"United States troops" was always applied to the regular army of the 
United States to distinguish it from the forces of the individual States. 
The former was maintained by and under control of the central power at 
Washington, with the President as Commander-in-chief, and was upon the 
same footing as the regular standing armies of Europe. 

The State's troops were composed of militia and volunteers, and were 
maintained by each individual State, the Governor of the State being 
Commander-in-chief of the army of the State. The relationship between 
the governments of the respective States and the United States was often 
characteristically expressed by applying to the Federal Government the 
familiar sobriquet, taken from the initials U.S., of "Uncle Sam." 



62 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

journal and man in the South. Such a treasonable expression 
coming from the leader of a party was denounced and regarded 
as most damaging to that party, and liberally applied against 
them by Southern orators. Yet, strange to say, before two 
years had passed, Mr. Banks was fighting against the South to 
keep the Union from " sliding," and the South, which had 
denounced Mr. Banks for the expression, was fighting to be 
separated from the Union. 

I may here observe that at the time Butler seized the specie 
and closed up the banks in New Orleans, this same Banks 
(then General Banks) was hard pressed by Stonewall Jackson 
in Northern Virginia, and was the subject of the following 
jeu d' esprit :— 

" While Butler plays his roguish pranks, 
And stops the run of Southern banks, 
Our Stonewall Jackson by his cunning, 
Keeps Northern Banks for ever running." 

To fully account for what would seem to be a strange revul- 
sion of sentiment, and how that revolution was brought 
about and secession accomplished, would be presumption in 
an obscure individual entirely outside of political or Govern- 
ment circles. 

I can merely attempt to describe to the best of my recol- 
lection events as they happened under my own observation and 
experience, and which were daily witnessed and commented 
upon at the time by myself and others of my acquaintance and 
associates, most of whom were better tutored and took more 
interest in politics than myself. 

To do this it will be necessary to advert to the political 
subjects which then agitated the public mind, and give an 
outline of the diiferent parties how they originated and existed 
in 1860. 

The all-absorbing topic at this time was the election of a 
President. This is an election in which the general people 
take more interest than any other. It takes place every fourth 
year, and is a national question equally interesting to all parts 
of the Union, and may be taken as a test of the public senti- 
ment on the leading political questions of the day. 

It is an election which calls forth an enormous amount of 
political oratory, and the influence of each party is strained to 
the utmost. Nevertheless, I believe there is less actual cor- 
ruption either in the nomination or in the voting in this election 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 63, 

than in most other elections. But there seems to me to be a 
rather singular defect in the system of electing a President. 
The President is supposed to be elected by the popular vote of 
the whole nation (South Carolina excepted), every citizen 
giving his vote singly and individually for the candidate of 
his choice, which he does by dropping into the ballot-box a 
billet with the names of the candidates he favours for president 
and vice-president. The vote is taken in every part of the 
United States in one day. Notwithstanding this a candidate 
may be elected against whom by far the largest number of 
individual votes have been polled. 

This does not arise from any corruption in the election, but 
by the system of carrying out the election by means of what 
is called the Electoral College. 

Each State forms an electoral district, and each State, 
according to the number of its population, is entitled to a 
certain number of electors or electoral votes for president. 
This system, as generally described, would imply that the 
people only vote for a certain number of electors to whom is 
entrusted the power of electing a president ; but this is not so. 
Electors are no doubt appointed by each State for their 
respective candidates, but these electors are merely nominal, 
and have no power whatever beyond formally presenting the 
vote of the State in favour of the candidate who has polled the 
greatest number of individual votes in the State. 

The candidate who polls the greatest number of individual 
votes in a State carries that State with the whole electoral 
votes of that State, and any candidate to be elected must have 
a majority of electoral votes over all the other candidates 
combined should there be more than two. Notwithstanding, 
a discrepancy may arise in this way : — Take, for instance, the 
State of New York, allowing it to have, say, 300,000 voters, 
and is entitled in proportion to 45 electoral votes. Virginia 
has, say, 100,000 voters, and is entitled in proportion to 15 
electoral votes. A. and B. are candidates for president. In 
the State of New York, when the votes in the ballot-boxes are 
counted, it is found that A. has polled 160,000 votes and B. 
has polled 140,000. Thus A. has carried the State and gained 
45 electoral votes for president. 

In the State of Virginia, when the votes in the ballot boxes 
are counted, it is found that A. has polled only 15,000 votes 
and B. 85,000 ; thus it will be seen that in those two States 



64 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE AEMY. 

only 175,000 of the citizen voters have voted for A., yet he 
has obtained 45 electoral votes for president, while 225,000 
have voted for B. and he has only 15 electoral votes for presi- 
dent. This, of course, is showing a possibility and an extreme 
case, and there is no doubt when the whole of the States come 
to be taken together the chances of the candidates become 
more equalized. Nevertheless the instance given shows the 
possibility of a president being elected by a minority, particu- 
larly if a political question arises affecting the geographical 
position, as was the case in 1860. 

I understand that Mr. Lincoln, though having a majority of 
electoral votes over all the other candidates combined, was 
still very much in the minority by the popular vote. This of 
course could be easily accounted for, as the South was almost 
unanimously against him, and in some of the States his name 
never appeared at all ; while in some of the Northern States 
which gave him a large electoral vote, he carried the State by 
a very small majority. He was therefore what was called a 
minority president. 

The long-standing political parties in the United States 
were the Whig party, which dated from the revolution and 
war of independence. The Democratic party sprung up shortly 
after the death of Washington, about the beginning of the 
present century, and during the administration of Thomas 
Jefferson, who has been called the father of democracy. It 
was strengthened some twenty-five years later by Andrew 
Jackson, and got into the ascendancy, and the Whig party 
began to go down. 

In 1853 another party was started on the ruins of the Whig 
party, called the " Native American " or " Know-nothing " 
party. This party was somewhat hostile to foreigners and 
naturalised citizens, and lasted but a short time. 

Another party then sprung up in opposition to the Demo- 
cratic party, afterwards called the Republican party. This 
party was composed of different sects, all more or less opposed 
to slavery. This party in 1856 ran John C. Fremont as a 
candidate for president against James Buchanan for the 
Democratic party, and Mr. Filmore for the Native American 
party, when Mr. Buchanan was elected by a majority over 
Mr. Fremont and Mr. Filmore combined. One of the 
professed objects of the Fremont party was said to be the 
settlement of the negro question by establishing a negro 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 65 

republic in Africa or some other place. Hence it got in the 
South the name of the " Black Republican party." 

In 1860, when Mr. Buchanan's term of office was drawing 
to a close, the position of parties was somewhat confused and 
complicated. The Democratic party having been long in 
power was now regarded by many, both North and South, as 
having become hopelessly corrupt. The Native American 
party having made such a poor show at the election of 1856 
by carrying only one State (the State of Maryland) was now 
considered extinct. 

The Republican party had considerably increased in the 
North, but as it was hostile to slavery, it was rigidly sup- 
pressed in the South, and as it increased in strength, so 
increased the hostile feeling between North and South. Dark 
hints as to the danger of a dissolution of the Union now began 
to be thrown out. 

The alleged corruptness of the Democratic party, and the 
danger of disunion supposed to arise from the increasing power 
of the Republican party in the North, was the means of stir- 
ring up in 1860 a large portion of the more moderate men of 
all parties, both North and South, to organise a party whose 
avowed principles were to uphold the Constitution, the Union, 
and the enforcement of the laws. The Democrats opposed that 
party, considering such sentiments quite superfluous. 

The Constitution, they considered, was embodied in the 
principles and platform of the Democratic party. The Union 
they considered to be in no danger, and they scouted the idea 
of a disruption. The only union they considered necessary to 
preserve was the union of the Democratic party. The enforce- 
ment of the laws, they considered, was quite sufficiently 
attended to, at least for their purpose. Probably some of 
their leaders supposed that if the laws were very rigidly 
enforced, they might not then have been enjoying that glorious 
liberty they were so constantly prating about. 

There was, no doubt, a few of the leading politicians of each 
party who entertained a slight idea of this kind. 

After holding a convention at Charleston, the Southern 
parties failed to come to any agreement upon a candidate, and 
the convention broke up, each determining to act indepen- 
dently, the Democrats nominating as their candidate John 
C. Breckenridge, who was vice-president during Buchanan's 
administration, and Mr. Lane as vice-president. 



66 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

The Constitutional and Union party nominated as their 
■candidate John Bell for president, and Edward Everitt for 
vice-president. 

The Republican party, who held a convention at Chicago, 
nominated as their candidate Mr. Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, 

There was also another candidate, a Mr, Douglas of Illinois, 
who came forward in the interests of the Northern Democrats, 
so that there were in all four candidates in the field for presi- 
dent, each party holding forth their respective views, and the 
political atmosphere was much troubled, a great many of the 
people not knowing or regarding much the difierent narrow 
points set forth by the leaders as questions of vital importance, 
and the result of the election seemed to depend a good deal 
upon chance. 

Mr. Lincoln was not at that time regarded as an abolitionist 
or in favour of abolishing slavery within the States where it 
at the time existed. He was what was called a " Free Soiler," 
that is, he was against any further extension of slavery, and 
was for confining it to certain limits south of a certain parallel 
of latitude, and that it should be prohibited in any of the 
territories. 

This view did not seem unreasonable to moderate men in 
the South, and I believe was privately acquiesced in by most 
reasonable men, but it was not the Southern politics of the 
day. The seeds of discord had been too thickly sown, and the 
strife and enmity so effectually stirred up between North and 
South by the canting abolitionists of the North and the bully- 
ing fire-eaters of the South, that every word was distrusted, 
and such doctrine dared not be even talked of in the South. 

Mr. Lincoln's nomination, his election, and subsequent 
popularity I consider arose more from a train of circumstances 
than from any high qualification as a statesman. Some of 
these circumstances had a smack of the humorous or comical, 
which is a most powerful factor in American politics and 
elections. He was facetious in conversation, and his speeches 
were characterised by an amount of humour which never failed 
to bring him thunders of applause ; and let a man get the 
name of being a humourist and every sentence he utters is 
considered as entitled to a laugh, although it may be difficult 
sometimes to see where the laugh comes in. The anecdotes 
a-ttributed to Lincoln, some of which were not of the most 
refined nature, would have filled a volume. 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 67 

I have always observed that some trivial incident or event 
€Oupled with a candidate's name or profession, and more 
especially if this has obtained for him some favourable sobri- 
quet, is a most powerful agency, particularly with mob or 
bunkum at elections. 

When Mr. Lincoln's name was put before the Republican 
party as a candidate for president at the Chicago convention, 
as a testimonial of his qualification a bundle of old fence rails 
was carried into the convention hall by some of his admirers 
and supporters, and displayed as having been split by him in 
his younger days. While this was used as a text in the 
speeches of his supporters, it called forth a good deal of joking 
and jeering from his opponents, and was the cause of some 
squibs appearing in the newspapers, such as — 

" Mr. Editor. Please put down my name as a candidate for 
President of the United States. I split rails in this State 
thirty years ago; I am sound on the goose. Yours, Bill 
Stubbins." 

All this, however, only tended to bring Lincoln's name more 
before the public, and whether he obtained the nomination on 
the strength of his skill in splitting rails or from some other 
qualification I don't know, but there was something in the 
matter so pertaining to rural or backwood life as to make the 
name savour of homely, honest industry, that it obtained for 
him the sobriquet of " Honest Abe." 

This appellation was, perhaps, one of the chief agents that 
elected him to office, and gave him his high popularity ; and I 
have no doubt that thousands voted merely for " Honest Abe" 
without knowing or considering what was the qualification or 
policy of the man himself. This sobriquet a.dhered to him and 
strengthened his popularity to the end of his days, and added 
greatly to the deep emotion and excitement caused by his 
tragical end. He was no doubt a good, honest, and well- 
meaning man, altogether too honest and simple for the trying 
position he had to fill and the artful wire-pullers around him. 
But I never could see that he possessed any extraordinary 
talent or sagacity as a statesman. Nothing in my opinion can 
be more absurdly ridiculous or traducive to the memory of one 
of the world's greatest men than the presumption of comparing 
even in the smallest degree Lincoln with Washington, if it was 
for nothing more than the respect for virtue that the very 
presence of Washington commanded. 



68 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

It might be said that, while the most unprincipled jobbery 
and corruption would revel in Lincoln's very presence, the 
perpetrators of it hoodwinking him by flattery or using him as 
a buffet, one stern look from George Washington, as he stood 
forth a pillar of what was noble and good in man, would have- 
paralyzed them with terror. 

When Mr. Lincoln was nominated I do confidently believe 
that among the great masses of Southern people the thought 
was not for one moment indulged that his election would cause 
a dissolution of the Union. Mr. Lincoln was not regarded by 
the South as a man of extreme partisan views or a man of 
great political powers, and he openly declared that his policy 
was not to interfere in any way with slavery in the States 
where it already existed. Thus his nomination did not causo 
much excitement among the great body of the real indus- 
trious people, and a very general expression that I often 
heard privately made was, that they believed Mr. Lincoln 
would make a very good President. Unfortunately this was 
only the heartfelt sentiments in the homes and domestic circles 
of the quiet, industrious people who would have only to wait 
until the political trumpet sounded. 

If the South had any justifiable cause to rise in rebellion on 
Lincoln's election it could not be attributed so much to him 
personally or to his avowed policy, as to his supposed con- 
nection or alliance with a party who adopted an insidious 
policy too common throughout the world, and who, while 
pursuing aggression under the shield of fraternity and good 
will, keep edging closer to get their knee on the throat of their 
victim, and meantime reply in the blandest manner to any 
remonstrance in this wise, " Oh, my dear sir, our intentions, 
are pacific, we would not injure you for the world," while 
nevertheless they continue carrying on their encroachments. 



CHAPTER V. 

ELECTION OP LINCOLN— SECESSION OP SOUTH CAROLINA— SUSPENSE AND 
EXCITEMENT IN THE SOUTH— A PLEBISCITE DECIDED UPON— POLITICIANS 
AT WOKK — CERTAIN CAUSES FOR SECESSION — A SPECIMEN OF ORATORY — 
PRECEPT AND PRACTICE AS SHOWN IN THE SEQUEL. 

When the election took place on the 5th of November, 1860, 
Mr. Lincoln was declared elected. This was nothing more 
than was expected even in the South, and caused very little 
■excitement in Louisiana, at least among the people at large. 
But some excitement was created shortly afterwards by the 
announcement that South Carolina had by an Act of her 
Legislature seceded from the Union. This was regarded at 
first by many of the sober-minded people as an act of bragga- 
docio l3y a hot-headed legislature, South Carolina being unique 
among the other States in the Union in granting to her legis- 
lature extraordinary powders, even to the vote for president, 
which power is, or was at that time, vested in the legis- 
lature. The question was now. How would this proceeding 
be regarded 1 Would it be ratified or endorsed by the people 
of South Carolina ; would it be recognised by any of the other 
States ; or would the secession be recognised or permitted by 
the Federal Government ? 

It was remembered that South Carolina had on a former 
occasion during Jackson's administration stood out against 
the authority of the Federal Government and repudiated the 
tariff imposed by Congress of duties on goods imported, defied 
the Federal authority, and threatened to secede from the 
Union and prepared for war against the Federal Government, 
President Jackson took a strong position, and threatened war 
against the State to coerce it to obedience. But Congress, to 
avoid civil war, removed the grievance by reducing the tariff, 
which satisfied South Carolina, and civil war was averted. 
This precedent rather tended to weaken the Federal authority, 
and left the question of the right of a State to secede from the 
Union still in abeyance. 

After some days' suspense there did not seem to be any 
notice taken of the proceedings in South Carolina at this 



70 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

time, nor any action taken by the Federal Grovernment at 
Washington. 

In the meantime it had been arranged to take the sense of 
the people in each of the Southern States as to whether the 
Southern States should act in co-operation or secede separately 
from the Union. This vote was construed to mean — whether 
the Southern States should remain in the Union and act as a 
body in Congress, or secede entirely from the Union. 

In the meantime politicians had been holding their conclaves, 
as to which side they should take. 

In former presidential elections there had always been a 
goodly number of Federal offices to dispose of among the 
political spirits of each State, who had worked hard to secure 
the return of the president elect, which at this time would not 
fall to any of the Southern politicians, as there had been no 
workers for Mr. Lincoln in any of the Southern States. 
There were also the permanent Federal officials at the ports 
and in the department of customs within the States and others 
who held their offices from the Federal Government, but who 
had become so identified with the politics of the State that, 
even if allowed to retain their offices, they could not now with 
honour remain in them under the administration of a party 
which they had so lately denounced. 

Influence was also said to have sprung up from another 
quarter outside of political circles. 

A great many of the plantations and slaves in the South 
were heavily mortgaged to Northern capitalists.* The greater 
part of the cotton produced in the South was shipped to 
Europe in Northern-owned ships and through Northern agen- 
cies, and many of the Southern planters were entirely in the 
hands of Northern capitalists. It was also said that many 
of the merchants in the South were heavily indebted to 
Northern houses of business. 

It was also held that the Northern States, having a majority 
in Congress, imposed tariffs, and so managed legislation as to 
cause the whole of the trade between the South and Europe to 
pass through Northern agencies, which secured from it heavy 
tariff's and commissions. It was also held out somewhat 
bitterly that, while the South did the hard work, took the 
responsibility or odium of being slaveholders, and produced the 
exports, and maintained the prosperity of the nation, the 

* In these mortgages the plantations and slaves generally went together, 
but not always. 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 71 

North derived the benefit, and pocketed the lion's share of the 
profits. Whether these allegations were just or partly so, 
they had no doubt considerable effect in causing some of the 
more influential men to regard with favour any movement for 
the dissolution of the Union, and perhaps, by some of them, as 
one way of getting rid of their liabilities. 

In the town and county of Baton Rouge the public feeling 
and popular vote had been in favour of the Union and consti- 
tutional party, and the popular feeling was strongly in favour 
of Union, but the politicians and State Government were 
Democratic, and favoured secession. 

When the secession of South Carolina became a certainty, 
some of the politicians began to appear about the cafes with 
tricolour rosettes in their hats. This was at first pretended to 
be a kind of frolic, but a day had now been fixed for taking 
the vote of the State on the question, and parties for or against 
secession had now taken the field, the political party going for 
secession, but the greater part of the people holding aloof. 

Meetings were now held with audiences drummed up from 
every available source. Irish labourers, proud of their citizen- 
ship, fond of politics, easily led, and always ready to take part 
in any political agitation, were now in great demand, and were 
flattered, coaxed, and prevailed upon to attend the meetings 
and give their decision on the great question of the day. 

The regular political gang, with tricolours in their hats, 
headed by the ofiice-holders, occupied the front seats, the whole 
audience garnished with a few rabid slaveholding planters and 
merchants, many of them no doubt sincere in their belief in 
the justice and excellency of Southern institutions and the 
expediency of Southern independence ; others, in the hands of 
and pressed by their Northern creditors, were willing to have 
their liabilities wiped off in a general smash-up. 

These meetings were harangued by political orators with all 
the soul-stirring eloquence that political education and practice 
could produce. Blatant demagogues who supported the move- 
ment were magnified into men of the greatest genius and 
patriotism, while the name of William L. Yancy resounded 
from every platform, every cafe and street-corner crowd as the 
greatest living man of the day. 

As a specimen of the rhetoric poured forth at those meet- 
ings I will give an instance of what I actually saw and heard 
at one of them. 



72 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Walking out with a friend one evening we went into one 
meeting just to see what was going on. The audience was 
being addressed by a well-known politician who was known as 
Judge B., and the follomng is a part of the speech which we 
heard and the words just about as he uttered them : — 

" Fellow-citizens,- — -This is a white man's country ; we have 
formed a part of the Union of the great United States ; we 
have been one of the brightest stars in the great galaxy ; we 
have reverenced that Union ; we have been true and loyal to 
it, but when a treacherous phalanx within that Union seeks 
to crush us under their iron heel, seeks to trample us into the 
dust, rob us of our own birthright and set the black man over 
us, are we to submit to such degradation ? Fellow-citizens, 
will you submit to eat dirt 1 I tell you if you submit to a 
black Republican President you do so. No, fellow-citizens, 
the blood of our noble forefathers runs in our veins ; we 
inherit the rights they have purchased by that blood ; they 
have bequeathed to us their beaming swords to defend those 
rights ; shall these swords rust in our hands 1 Never ! Fellow- 
citizens, I say. Never ! Where are the men who call them- 
selves Unionists ? Those submissionists who hanker after the 
flesh-pots of Egypt ? Fellow-citizens, before I would submit to 
such degradation, even if I cannot get a single man to follow 
me, I will arm myself and go to the frontier and take my 
stand there and fight while a spark of life remains within me, 
and these Northern hordes, the enemies of my country, before 
they shall put a foot on this sacred soil they shall have to pass 
over my lifeless body." 

" Hold him," whispered my companion in my ear, as he 
pulled me by the sleeve to come away, and we retired, not 
caring to make any remark until we got out of the crowd, 
which we just effected as the tremendous cheering which 
greeted this last sally had died away. 

On our way home we passed where several gentlemen of our 
acquaintance were seated in a verandah, and knowing them to 
be of the more peacefully disposed Union party, and that they 
had not been at the meeting, we began in a jocular way to 
rally them on their want of zeal and patriotism, and related what 
we had heard spoken at the meeting. They laughed in 
derision at what they termed balderdash, observing that there 
were plenty of sensible men in the country to overrule the 
ravings of a few unprincipled demagogues who, before six 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 73 

months had passed, would deny they had ever uttered such 
words or appeared with a tricolour in their hats. 

To show w^hat dependence may be placed in the integrity or 
patriotism of professional agitators, contrasted with what may 
spring from the more quiet and unassuming in time of necessity, 
I may mention that about two years after this, I happened to 
visit Baton Rouge ; New Orleans had then been captured and 
Baton Rouge was occupied by the Northern troops. I made 
inquiries after many of my old friends, amongst whom were 
some of the peacefully inclined men of Union proclivities with 
whom we had been talking in the verandah on the night of the 
meeting referred to. I found that every one of them capable 
of bearing arms had taken the field and were now in the 
Confederate army, their houses were deserted and their 
families had retired within the Confederate lines, preferring to 
abandon their homes and endure the privations within the 
Confederate lines to remaining in their homes under the 
Union flag, although food and all the necessities of life were 
there in abundance. How this great change in sentiment took 
place may be somewhat accounted for from what took place 
prior to the actual breaking out of the war, which I will 
endeavour to recount in its place. Whilst thinking over the 
cause which had produced this change in sentiment, and 
endeavouring to find out more of the course taken, and the 
present position and circumstances of some of my former 
acquaintances, I chanced to step into a cafe, within a hundred 
yards of where I had heard that exciting speech delivered two 
years previously. There the first thing that met my eye was 
our friend Judge B., who I might have supposed to have long 
before this been lying dead on the frontier, surrounded by the 
dead bodies of the Northern hordes whom he had slain ; but 
here he was, playing billiards and hobnobbing with some 
officers of the Northern army. I wondered whether he might 
not be on the secret service and acting as a spy. I was told, 
however, that he had never taken up arms, or joined the 
Southern army at all, but kept shuffling until the Federal 
troops entered the town, when he was one of the first to meet 
them — not armed and in a hostile way, but to make his peace 
with them and take the oath of allegiance, and was now trying 
to get under the Federal Government some sa-^e and easy civil 
appointment. I do not think that ever in my life I felt such 
an inclination to go up to a man and kick him. 



CHAPTER YI. 

SECESSION OF ALABAMA, FLORIDA, MISSISSIPPI, AND GEORGIA — MEETING OF 
CONGRESS — BUCHANAN'S MESSAGE — INACTION OF CONGRESS — ANNOUNCE- 
MENT OF THE RESULT OF THE PLEBISCITE IN LOUISIANA — ITS ACCURACY 
QUESTIONED — DISSENT OVERRULED— ACT OF SECESSION PASSED — SEIZURE 
OF THE ARSENAL — DEPARTURE OF THE UNITED STATES' TROOPS — DISAFFEC- 
TION AMONG THE VOLUNTEERS. 

Very shortly after this agitation commenced, the intelligence 
came of the secession of the States of Alabama, Florida, 
Mississippi, and Georgia, all within a few days of each other. 
As the news came of each successive secession, it was hailed 
with great enthusiasm by the political rabble and the pro- 
secession party. Salutes were fired, and lone star flags 
were borne through the streets in honour of each State 
respectively amidst the cheering of the rabble, almost mad 
with excitement. 

In the meantime business was almost at a standstill, money 
had become scarce, and confidence in business circles was gone, 
the political commotion was increasing. The great body of the 
more law-abiding people began to wonder how all this was 
going to end, and as the Congress at Washington was about to 
meet, they strained their patience to see what action it would 
take in the matter. 

When Congress met, President Buchanan in his message 
pointed out that, while there was no provision in the constitu- 
tion of the United States to give any individual State the 
right to secede from the Union, there was no provision to pre- 
vent it from seceding, or to coerce it to remain in the Union, 
should it elect to secede. There was a provision that no two 
or more States should join in or form any coalition without 
the consent of the United States, but if a State should secede 
separately from the Union, he saw no power under the consti- 
tution to prevent it. He did not see the right of the Federal 
executive to interfere, and left the matter with Congress. 

Congress came to no decision on the point, and no action 
was taken. This inaction of Congress was regarded by many 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 75 

as virtually a recognition by the Federal Government of the 
right of any individual State to secede from the Union. 

The leaders in the secession movement seem to have taken 
the same view of the constitution as Mr. Buchanan, and acted 
upon it, for they adopted the plan of each State seceding 
separately, and each forming itself first into a separate and 
independent power, and then as an independent power enter- 
ing into coalition and forming a combination or union with 
other States, being also already independent powers. This 
was, no doubt, only a device to evade or avoid a direct 
violation of the constitution, or, as it was expressed, a mere 
" whipping of the devil round the stump." Nevertheless, the 
indecision of Congress, and the inaction of the Federal execu- 
tive seemed to satisfy many who had as yet formed no opinion 
and had taken no part in the movement that the States had at 
least the right to secede. 

When the plebiscite on the question was taken in Louisiana, 
it being different from an ordinary election, the Government 
executive took control of the polling, and announced the result 
to be in favour of secession. This was, of course, received 
with tremendous cheering by the secession party, and the 
demagogue mob which seemed to have been got ready to greet 
the announcement, and send it out over the land accompanied 
with such deafening shouts as would effectually check, smother, 
and drown any voice which might attempt to express dissent, 
doubt its accuracy, or dare to inquire into its correctness. It 
was said that the announcement was given out before the 
result was known and before some of the distant counties 
were heard from. 

Some people, however, did express their doubts as to the 
correctness of the returns, and some Union papers were bold 
enough to insist upon the returns being published, each county 
separately. This, of course, could not be refused, and a state- 
ment was published giving the returns from each county. The 
vote was small, showing that many had refrained from voting, 
but showing in the aggregate a majority for secession. This 
was, however, criticised by some of the Union pa]Ders, which 
pointed out several discrepancies, and particularly where one 
populous county, which was known to be strongly in favour of 
union, was left out of the return altogether. 

Such remonstrances, however, were soon clamoured down 
and declared as unpatriotic ; and now that the State had by 



76 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

the unmistakable voice of the people declared and asserted its 
independence, and was now a free and independent State, any 
one that should raise his voice against it should be denounced 
as a traitor. 

Before this, however, and immediately after it was announced 
that the vote of the State was for secession, and in order to 
increase the enthusiasm, the old days of 1776 were re-enacted. 
A " Declaration of Independence," similar to that signed at 
Philadelphia in 1776 was drawn up and signed, and an Act 
passed by the Legislature repealing the Act of the Union of 
Louisiana with the United States, and Louisiana was declared 
to be a free and independent State. 

All this was carried through so quick that the people in 
general had scarcely time to think. There was no time for 
remonstrance ; the people's minds seemed to be carried along 
with the current froin one excitement to another. 

What was lately a State was now declared to have become 
a nation, with all its accompanying responsibilities. To form 
a cabinet, organise the different departments, and appoint 
the necessary officials to each office, there could be no difficulty, 
at least from lack of men to fill them. The greatest difficulty 
was rather how to dispose of the surplus and satisfy expec- 
tants. But a more serious movement was now determined 
upon by the State Government. 

There was, as I have said, at Baton Rouge a United States 
garrison with a large arsenal adjoining, containing a large stock 
of ordnance stores, small arms, and ammunition. Intelligence 
was received that at Charleston, South Carolina, the State 
Volunteer troops had seized Fort Moultrie, and that at Mobile, 
Alabama, the State Volunteer troops had seized Fort Morgan. 
Against these seizures no action was taken or remonstrance 
made by the Federal Government or War department. Major 
Anderson, in command of the United States troops at Charles- 
ton, had, upon his own responsibility, made a stratagetical 
movement by taking his forces from Fort Moultrie to Fort 
Sumter. 

A deputation of the leading men in the secession movement 
now waited upon Governor Moore, of Louisiana, to urge upon 
hrm the importance and necessity of taking possession in the 
name of the State of Louisiana, of the United States garrison 
and arsenal at Baton Rouge. 
' The garrison was at the time occupied by a detachment 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 77 

numbering about 80 men of the regular army of the United 
States, ^ith some three or four light field guns, under the com- 
mand of Major Hoskins. The place ^vas no kind of a fort, or 
in any Tvay a place of defence. 

A demand was made upon Major Hoskins by Governor 
Moore, in the name of the State of Louisiana, to deliver over 
to the State the whole of the property with all arms and 
munitions stored in it belonging to the TJnited States. Major 
Hoskins telegraphed to AVashington for instructions. The 
position was one of extreme difficulty. The Federal Govern- 
ment at Washington was democratic, and acknowledged the 
doctrine of the supremacy of States sovereignty; the Secretary 
of War, Floyd, and several members of the Cabinet were 
Southern men, and General Scott, the commander-in-chief of 
the army was a Southern man, and all supposed to be more or 
less Southern in their procli^dties. 

After waiting for a day or two Major Hoskins stated that 
he could get no satisfactory reply or instructions, but he 
refused to surrender the place unless an overwhelming force 
was brought against it. It was afterwards agreed that he 
would deliver over the place to a force of not less than from 
600 to 800 of the State Volunteer troops. 

I may here say in regard to the standing army of the 
United States at that time it consisted of about 12,000 men of 
all arms ; that in efficiency it should be up to the standard of 
any European army. 

The officers were all graduates of that famous military 
training institution. West Point. The non-commissioned 
officers must be picked men of good education and thorough 
military training. A large number of the soldiers were 
Europeans, mostly Irish and German, and many of them had 
served in the British army and other armies of Europe. 

The Governor now called out the State Volunteers, and 
amongst others was the Baton Rouge Rifle Company, of which 
I was a member, although it was known to be nothing more 
than to make a military display, and on any other occasion 
would have been much enjoyed by the men. On this occasion, 
however, the duty was very repugnant to the feelings of most 
of them. In our company the most of the men were strongly 
union in their sentiments, and as citizens were opposed to the 
whole secession movement. Nevertheless, as they were in the 
service of the State, it was their duty to obey the orders of 



78 LIFE IX THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

the Governor, who was by virtue of his office commander-in- 
chief of the State troops. They therefore responded to the 
call, although I for one confess, and I believe I might say the 
same for many others, that I would much rather have been 
called upon to act with the United States troops to suppress 
the secession movement and maintain the Union. 

A force of about 800 volunteers, including about 600 of a 
very efficient co|:*ps from New Orleans, called the Washington 
Artillery, who, like the United States troops, acted also as 
infantry, and some three or four local companies were mar- 
shalled on the Boulevards at Baton Rouge while the terms of 
surrender were being agreed upon, inventories of stores made 
out and receipts signed by the Governor, and the joroperty 
formally handed over to the State. The United States troops 
then marched out with their arms and colours, carrying with 
them the United States eagle and emblem of Union which had 
been fixed over the gate of the garrison. They embarked on 
a steamer which was waiting to receive them at the landing 
place on the river bank. 

The order was then given to the Washington Artillery alone 
to march up and take possession of the place, and to the other 
companies that their services would not be required. 

What was the object of this dispensing with the services of 
other companies I never learnt ; but the officers took great 
offence and considered that they had been slighted and dis- 
graced at not being allowed to share in the honours of march- 
ing up, and they protested against what they considered a slur 
on their companies. In expressing their minds to the men, 
the latter became enraged, or pretended to be in a rage, and 
threw down their arms, most of them I believe, and I for one, 
only too glad to have some excuse for a dissension of some 
kind. They soon, however, took up their arms as something 
which they might yet want ; and our captain, who appeared 
to be in a towering rage, ordered us to break ranks, take our 
arms and go and put off our uniforms, and not to put them on 
again till we came out as an independent company. 

I, for one, did not require to hear this order a second time, 
for in a very short time I was home, my arms put away, and 
dressed in my citizen clothes. 

On going toward the works I met my partner's daughter, a 
girl of about ten years of age, accompanied by a friend, a girl 
of about the same age, who said they were going down to the 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 79 

steamer to take good-bye with Major Hoskins' children, who 
had been their schoolmates. I agreed to accompany them, as 
the streets were thronged with an excited crowd. I also 
wished to have an opportunity of bidding a friendly good-bye 
to Major Hoskins and his officers, with whom I had a slight 
but pleasant acquaintance. 

The boat was still at the landing-place coaling for the passage 
up the river, and the soldiers were busy getting on board their 
luggage. I observed many of the most respectable people of 
the place taking an affectionate adieu with the Major and his 
family and the other officers. They had been much respected 
during the time they had been at Baton Rouge, and it was 
plainly to be seen that there were a great many of the most 
respectable citizens who regarded the movement with sorrow 
and indignation, although they dared not openly express their 
feelings. On getting a word with the Major I saw he deeply 
felt the situation, but maintained a dignified reserve. 

Just at that moment the Pelican flag, the emblem of the 
State, was being hoisted on the flag-staff at the garrison amidst 
tremendous cheering. On my calling his attention to it, he 
pointed to the Union flag which was then waving over the 
steamer, and said with some emotion, " You take my word 
for it, you will see that flag waving there again before six 
months." " Sooner, I hope," said I, as I took my leave. 
" So say I," also cried five or six voices around me, as we 
walked ashore. 

Having taken the children to their homes I sauntered along 
the streets to see what might be the outward display of public 
feeling. But few- people were now to be seen in the streets ; 
the sounds of drunken orgies proceeded from some of the cafes, 
while bands of politicians of the Government party were 
congratulating each other on the glorious event, and joining in 
loud cheers for the " Independent State of Louisiana;" while 
small groups of more thoughtful men might be seen in secluded 
corners talking in a lower and more serious tone, and quiet 
whisperings were rife within doors of fears of this being a 
black day for Baton Rouge. 

Many looked upon it as an act of war against the United 
States, as a plundering raid, which, if the Federal Government 
did not take prompt measures to resent, they would be 
unworthy of the name of a Government and not entitled to the 
respect of the people. 



80 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

I may observe that the term " Federal " was what applied 
to the Central Government at Washington over the whole of 
the United States, as a nation in its relation with foreign 
powers, etc., and is controlled by the President and Congress, 
each State having again its own Government and laws called 
the State Government. Afterwards during the war, the 
Northerners were called the " Federals," and the Southerners 
were called the " Confederates." 



CHAPTER YIL 

PREPARATIONS TO ORGANISE AN ARMY — AFFAIRS BECOME SERIOUS— SHAMEFUL 
INACTION OP THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT — SECESSION UNOPPOSED GAINS 
STRENGTH — THE PEOPLE, HAVING NO OTHER RESOURCE, ACCEPT THE 
SITUATION— OFFICE HUNTING— DEPRESSION OF BUSINESS— AN INTERVIEW 
WITH GOVERNOR MOORE. 

The Washington artillery volunteers, having done the part 
they were called upon to do, returned to New Orleans. The 
local volunteer companies were sullen and disaffected. The 
garrison and arsenal, with all the large stores of ordnance, 
small arms, and ammunition, having been taken possession of 
by the State Government, were still unguarded. The State 
Government had a war department on paper, with plenty of 
officials, but they had neither troops nor commissariat. It now 
became necessary to adopt some means to garrison and guard 
the place. A movement was set on foot to raise a force by 
enlistment, to constitute the regular army of Louisiana, and 
great inducements were held out to men to enlist; first, a 
provisional force for three months, then for longer periods — 
one year, and three years. As all trade and business was 
about a stand-still, there was abundance of idlers and unem- 
ployed, and a body of recruits was soon raised and stationed 
in the garrison. 

In the meantime people began to look upon the state of 
matters more seriously. The passing of the formal act of 
secession, and the declaration of the independence of the State, 
was regarded by many as a mere piece of political bounce, 
carried out with the view of compelling from the Federal 
Government some guarantee against any encroachment on 
what they termed Southern rights. But the seizure of the 
United States arsenal, and driving the United States troops 
from the State, was considered a high-handed act, which they 
expected the Federal Government would immediately resent; 
and many and various reports were whispered of immediate 
action to be taken by the Federal Executive, and that large 
forces of Federal troops were on the Avay to retake and hold 
possession of the garrison and arsenal. 



82 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

This at least could have been very easily effected. The 
garrison and arsenal stood on a level plateau about 40 feet 
above the level of, and bordering on, the Mississippi river. 
They stood on a plain field without any kind of defensive 
works, and could have been completely swept by the fire from 
a vessel on the river. The Mississippi river, which bounded 
the garrison on one side, was navigable for the largest ships in 
the United States navy, and the forts near the mouth of the 
river were not yet in a condition for defence, while it was 
perfectly open to an approach from above. And so completely 
did this great river form the main highway and artery through- 
out the South, that had the Federal Government acted promptly 
and sent up the river one or two of their small steam frigates, 
and if at the same time one or two armed transports with 
500 troops had been sent do^vn from above, the garrison and 
arsenal would have been re-occupied without resistance, while 
a couple of gunboats stationed on the Mississippi would have 
crushed secession in the bud. 

There would no doubt have been a howl of indignation from 
blatant politicians about coercion, violated rights, and suppres- 
sion of the freedom of the people by force of arms. 

But a very large proportion of the people — I believe a con- 
siderable majority of them whose freedom was suppressed by 
a less legitimate power — would have approved of the action of 
the Federal Government, and would have hailed with gladness 
some appearance of a sovereign power, and felt a sense of 
security, and realized that they Avere living under a govern- 
ment that would enforce the laws, and protect the true liber- 
ties of the people. For, even allo\ving the right of the State 
to secede from the Union to be admitted, the Federal Govern- 
ment was bound by the constitution to provide in each State 
a Republican form of Government, and it was considered their 
duty in such a question to see that the will of the people was 
freely and clearly expressed. 

In any case the Federal Government would have been justi- 
fied in resenting what might be called an outrage, and in 
immediately enforcing the restitution of the forts, arsenals, 
arms, and property. Had this been done, secession could 
have made no headway. 

" The precious hour was passed in vain." 

The Federal Government took no action. The loyal portion 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 83 

of the population who had been waiting in breathless suspense 
to see what action would be taken, were now disheartened, 
while the secession party increased in numbers, and became 
more arrogant and noisy. 

The question now asked among the loyal and law-abiding 
people was, whether the proceedings were constitutional and 
lawful, and if the Federal Government recognized the right of 
the State to secede. The question had to be answered by 
the action they took. Had the Federal Government repudi- 
ated the right of secession, followed up Major Anderson's 
movement, sent a war vessel into Charleston harbour before 
the Secessionists had time to mount a gun, and supported 
Major Anderson in Fort Sumter, secession would have been 
checked where it begun and gone no further. It could not 
have been called an excessive warlike demonstration, as it 
would only have been a movement in the army and navy, 
such as is often done in ordinary times of peace. It was 
therefore considered obvious that they did not consider it 
politic to make any such movement. They had before them 
an easy and simple method of checking secession if they had 
considered it unconstitutional and unlawful. As they did 
not do so, it was to be supposed that they recognized the 
action as legal. 

Such were the comments at the time among many respect- 
able Southern people ; many regretted and disapproved of the 
action, and what appeared to be the decision of the Federal 
Government. But as the party in power was the party that 
had almost unremittingly governed the United States for fifty 
years, their authority was considered valid, and very many of 
the Southern people accepted very reluctantly the situation, 
and gave in their adherence to the new Government. 

Could these people be blamed for thus acting, and could 
they afterwards be blamed for showing a determination to 
resist an attempt by the same central Government admini- 
stered by a man of different opinions to chastise them for act- 
ing as they did. 

There has been various reasons assigned for this inaction or 
supposed connivance of the Federal Government. But I think 
the most probable reason was that the Democratic Govern- 
ment then in office, seeing that their power was overthrown 
in the election of a president by their opponents, and saw also 
that, although Mr. Lincoln had got a majority of the elec- 



84 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. ^ 

toral votes, he was still very much in the minority by the 
popular vote. That is, throughout the United States there 
were more individual votes against him than for him, although 
by the electoral college system he had obtained a majority by 
states. 

They, therefore, as is too often done in popular Governments, 
cast aside honour and duty, to favour, as they thought, the 
source from which would come the largest number of votes. 

All business, except political business, or what was con- 
nected with the State Government, was now nearly at a 
stand-still. 

The State now being out of the Union, and declared an 
independent power, there was great confusion and alteration 
in the departments — creation of offices, and, of course, a 
great rush and struggle among office-seekers to obtain lucra- 
tive appointments under the new regime. 

In the commercial and ordinary business circles money had 
become exceedingly scarce, credit was about stopped, creditors 
sought payment, debtors were unable to pay. 

It happened about this time that our firm had a pretty 
large account against the State of Louisiana for work done 
for the difierent engineering departments; also against the 
United States for work for the Ordnance Department, and 
whose liabilities the State had assumed. And, though the 
State accounts, and the United States accounts, had always 
been considered as the best and surest class, still, after the 
events that had taken place, and the uncertainty of what 
might follow, and the fearful drain upon the State treasury, 
it was thought advisable, if possible, to secure payment before 
matters became more deeply embroiled. We well knew that 
the heads of departments — such as Engineer Department, 
Auditor and Treasury Departments — through which we had 
formerly to get our accounts settled were undergoing changes, 
and certain to be in confusion; and as each would have their 
own friends to serve, it would be almost useless at the time to 
think of getting a settlement through them in the usual way. 
It was therefore thought best under the circumstances to see 
the Governor direct on the subject. 

The Governor, who had only been about a year in office, 
was a planter on Red river, and with whom, in his private 
capacity, we had formerly done a good deal of business, and 
whom we always found to be a just and honourable man. I 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 85 

accordingly sought for a favourable opportunity to have an 
interview with him, and obtained it. 

Governor Moore was a tall spare man between fifty and 
sixty years of age, of a quiet, unobtrusive manner, and of 
rather a kindly and homely disposition, and very different 
from the fiery spirits that surrounded him. He seemed very 
careworn, and was evidently impressed with great anxiety 
with the responsibility of the act which he had taken, or 
rather which had been forced upon him. He received me 
very courteously, and when I had stated my business and 
explained the difiiculty of the position, he examined the 
accounts, and, ha^-ing satisfied himself that they were just and 
correct, he subscribed his approval on them, recommending 
that the accounts might be settled without going through the 
usual formalities in the then disorganised state of the depart- 
ments. 

Having done this, he motioned me to sit down if I had no 
pressing business to call me away. I think that, satiated with 
politics, he wanted to have a little respite from the worry he 
was enduring in the political turmoil, and the constant impor- 
tuning of office seekers, and while he was reported " engaged," 
could have a little rest, and have his mind refreshed by a 
change of subject, and a talk on matters more congenial to his 
home tastes and non-official business. 

He now entered into a long conversation on rural sub- 
jects, and engineering in all its branches, sugar and cotton 
machinery, sawmills, steamboats, his own works, river 
overflows and embankments, swamp draining, piling, rail- 
roads, bridges, canals, timber, the different qualities of 
wood produced in the State, and their capabilities for different 
purposes. 

He seemed to enjoy the conversation, and to feel as if in a 
change of atmosphere, and showed no disposition to terminate 
it, whilst I must confess I could not help enjoying a chuckle 
at the impatience which would be felt by the expectant office 
seekers who, I knew, were sitting in rows in the adjoining 
rooms, each with his credentials for services rendered, and 
letters of recommendation to the Governor, waiting his turn 
for an audience. 

After sitting for upwards of an hour, a peculiar knock at 
the door seemed to be a signal quite understood by the 
Governor, for he promptly called out — " Come in. Major." 



86 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

The door opened, and in walked Major H., Secretary of 
State. 

It must be here observed that the term of major, colonel, 
or general, or judge, so often applied to many in the South, 
was purely honorary or self-imposed, without any claim or 
origin whatever beyond courtesy ; the term major, however, 
was regarded with a little more respect than the others. The 
higher ranked titles of colonel and general had been adopted 
by so many that they had become common and ^Tilgar. 

Major H. was in appearance and manner the very reverse 
of Governor Moore. He was a stout man, of ruddy com- 
plexion, ^\T.th an open jocund countenance, and the plump 
jovial expression of his face indicated that he took matters 
easily, and certainly did not neglect the wants of his body 
as far as meat and drink were concerned. Major H. was 
a well-known and exceedingly popular man, possessed of great 
tact and considerable talent. He had for a long time held the 
office of Secretary of State, and though many had tried to 
oust him at the periodical elections, he still held his office 
against all competitors. He was an able stump orator, could 
tickle an audience, and ridicule an opponent, and always 
managed to be at the head of the poll. He had the peculiar 
ability of being " Hey fellow, well met," with everyone, ^dtli- 
out making himself too cheap, and always commanded respect. 

On his entering I made a motion of rising to leave, but he 
tapped me familiarly on the shoulder, saying, " Oh ! it is you. 
W. ; sit still." 

He handed to the Governor some papers, and what I took 
to be an extract from a newspaper, which the Governor read 
over carefully, and looked thoughtfully for a moment, while 
the Major gave a sort of derisive laugh, saying, " Well, what 
do you think of that. Governor 1 " The Governor replied in a 
more serious tone, " Well, I suppose it matters little ; the 
thing is done now, and they must just accept it." 

The Major, seeming not to wish further talk on that subject, 
turned round to me and said in a jocose manner, " Well, W., 
how do things get along in your line of business ? " " Very 
depressed indeed. Major," said I. " O that ^vill be only for 
a short time ; but you will see before long that business will 
be better than ever. What do you think of this movement ? " 
" O you know. Major," said I, " that I am a regular John 
Bull, and take nothing to do with politics ! " " John Bull or 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 87 

no John Bull, you take our money all the same." " O yes ! " 
said I laughing, " I take as much of that as I can get, but 
just in the same way as you take John Bull's money for your 
cotton." 

" That is so, Mr. W.," said the Governor, " but you get 
the full amount for your services, but look at what we in the 
South get for our cotton, a mere remnant of its value by our 
trade being hampered by having to pass through Northern 
agencies." 

" But that is no fault of John Bull," said I. 

" O certainly not," said the Governor, " there are worse 
men than John Bull with all his faults." 

"Who do you mean, Governor," chuckled the Major, "is it 
the Yankees 1 " 

" I mean," said the Governor, " those Northern capitalists 
who command our trade, and manage to control legislation to 
suit their purposes." 

" But you are not in that position yourself, Governor," said 
the Major, " you are not in the power of any Northern 
capitalist." 

" Not directly," said the Governor. " I am not personally 
like many others in the power of any Northern capitalist. 
But then all suffer indirectly. Only the other day I got a 
consignment of hardware from England, it had to come through 
a Northern agency, and the charges over and above the freight 
and duties amounted to about 30 per cent, on the invoice." 

" Well we have got rid of all that now," said the Major in 
a congratulating tone. 

The Governor seemed to muse on the subject, but said 
nothing. 

It was now evident that there was a crowd outside waiting 
for an audience, so I rose and took my leave. 

From this interview simple as it was, I could see that the 
Governor, who was not a great politician, but a man of con- 
siderable standing in the State, had no great heart in the 
movement, but was altogether overruled and goaded on by 
those around him, and had to go with the political current. 

But I could see that he had a strong sense of the position 
in which the South stood with the North in regard to trade, 
and it was no doubt a little irritating. The Southern planters 
were the real producers of the country. They were enduring 
the toils and privations of a backwoods life. They were 



88 LIFE IN THE COXFEDERATE ARMY. 

bearing the odium of being slaveholders. The North was 
pocketing the lion's share of their labours, living in ease and 
luxury, and maintaining an exterior of \irtue and sanctity, 
and it did seein like adding insult to injury that they should 
stigmatise the Southern people as slavemasters, nigger 
drivers, etc. 

I heard it very often said in the South at that time, that 
the 1000 dollars paid for a pew in Beecher's church, and the 
1000 dollar dresses which adorned the godly dames who 
occupied them, were often derived in a pretty direct way from 
the products of the Southern planter with all the horrors of 
slavery upon it, which they had come there to denounce. 
How far these assertions may have been correct, or how far 
they may have been applicable to the question, I do not pre- 
tend to say, but I often heard them expressed; and I did 
know of similar instances which came pretty direct. And 
although I could see nothing to justify the secession move- 
ment, still the remarks of the Governor reminded me that a 
question may be looked at from many points of view. And 
it was questionable if the Northern Abolitionists came into 
court with clean hands. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PRECAUTION AGAINST ENEMIES FROM WITHOUT— PRECAUTION AGAINST DIS- 
AFFECTION WITHIN— RESULT OF THE GENERAL PLEBISCITE THROUGHOUT 
THE SOUTH- CONVENTION OF THE SIX STATES— FORMATION OF A CON- 
FEDERACY—DEFIANT ATTITUDE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS— WARLIKE PRE- 
PARATIONS — ENTHUSIASM — CARRIED BY A COUP DE MAIN — SURMISES AS 
TO LINCOLN'S POLICY— HIS SUPPOSED WISEST POLICY— HOPES OF A 
PEACEFUL SEPARATION. 

One of the first steps taken by the new Government was the 
organisation of the War Department. A Secretary for War 
had been appointed, and there was abundance of officers, and 
a considerable number of recruits had been enlisted, and were 
undergoing drill in the garrison. 

A party of professed engineers were employed making sur- 
veys round the garrison, and preparing plans with a view to 
throwing up works on the side next the river, and forming 
the garrison into a place of defence. 

These works, however, were not carried out to any great 
extent, but the proposals and preliminaries with the attendant 
expenditure, if they did not serve to repel enemies, might at 
least have been the means of creating friends. 

A good many of the official appointments in this branch of 
the service were given to Germans, who were known to exer- 
cise considerable influence over their fellow-countrymen among 
the labouring and other classes. The latter, though citizens, 
and forming a considerable part of the population, had not 
hitherto shown any marked zeal in the secession movement. 

A similar policy was adopted throughout the Government 
Department in general. Offices, both civil and military, were 
offered to such men as were known to possess influence over 
the public mind, or were capable of swaying the minds of any 
particular class of the population, and every means was devised 
to make the new Government popular. 

Explanations, apologies, and flatteries, were applied to win 
back the disaffected volunteers. 

These devices all tended more or less to strengthen the new 
Government, and as there was no appearance of any interfer- 



90 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

ence on the part of the United States Government, more of 
the people began to acquiesce in the new order of things. 

The Government was now called the Republic of Louisiana. 
The other States which had seceded had also declared them- 
selves Independent Republics, each regarding the other and 
the United States as foreign powers. 

About the end of January, 1861, the result of the general 
plebiscite throughout the South had become known, and 
although different accounts had been circulated, the fact had 
now to be admitted that only six States had decided on seces- 
sion. These were — South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, 
Mississippi, and Louisiana. 

Early in February, 1861, and shortly after the result of the 
general plebiscite throughout the South had become known, a 
convention of the six States was held at Montgomerie, Ala- 
bama, and the old days of 1776 were again re-enacted. A 
Federal Constitution was drawn out after the form of the 
constitution of the United States, and a Government formed 
to be called the Confederate States of America. Mr. Jefferson 
Davis of MississijDpi, a man supposed to be possessed of great 
talent and strength of mind, was appointed President, pro tern., 
and Mr. Alexander Stephens of Georgia, a man also of great 
talent, and of somewhat milder views, was appointed Vice- 
President. 

These appointments were regarded as a sort of compromise 
to meet the views of both parties who had been in the Southern 
States at the time of Lincoln's election, Jefferson Davis being 
to suit the tastes of the rabid secession Democrats who sup- 
ported Mr. Breckenridge, and Mr. Stephens to please the Union 
and Constitutional party who supported Mr. Bell. 

Mr. Jefferson Davis signalised his inauguration by an 
injflammatory address, the violent and extravagant pro-slavery 
bounce of which did not add much to his general popularity. 

Having established a Government, formed a cabinet, and 
appointed the heads of departments, they proceeded with great 
vigour to make preparations for defence by organising an 
army, and strengthening and garrisoning the forts. 

The newly-fledged Government grew stronger every day. 
Departments were more fully organised, recruiting was pushed, 
the army was increasing, the forts were being strengthened, 
armed, and garrisoned. In the garrison at Baton Rouge, bands 
of recruits were being drilled and sent off to garrison the 



THE SECESSIOX MOVEMENT. 91 

different forts, while in the Ordnance Department the greatest 
activity prevailed in getting gun-carriages completed, field 
pieces mounted, and caissons fitted up ready for use. Navy 
guns with their equipments were sent off to the different forts, 
Avhile the road from the arsenal to the steamboat wharf on the 
river was cut up so as to be almost impassable with the cart- 
ing of shot and shell which was being shipped to the forts at 
the mouth of the Mississippi, and along the coasts of Missis- 
sippi, Alabama, and Florida. 

Meanwhile every possible means was adopted to rouse the 
enthusiasm of the people, and win over the disaffected portion 
of the population, and make the new Government popular. 

A flag bearing three bars of red, white, and red horizontally, 
Avith a galaxy of six stars on a blue ground in the upper 
corner, had been adopted as the national flag of the Confeder- 
ate States. This flag was floated over all the public buildings, 
displayed from windows, and paraded on the streets Avith 
bands playing patriotic airs got up to suit the occasion. Every 
steamboat calling at the landing place, or passing on the river, 
streamed with Confederate flags, and resounded with " Dixie's 
Land." This was done even by steamers from Northern cities, 
though it may be doubtful whether they did not as soon as 
they got out of reach and hearing, change their tune to 
" Yankee Doodle." 

Enthusiasm seemed to be carried by a coup de main, 
females and children joining largely in it. Any attempt at 
remonstrance dared not now be uttered, and all misgiving 
expressions were drowned in the apparent hilarity and enthu- 
siasm. 

Notwithstanding all this outward show of enthusiasm, 
confidence was not by any means restored in private life or 
business circles. 

It was now fully three months since the secession movement 
had begun, and it was e\ddent that Buchanan's Government 
had to all intents and purposes acknowledged the rights of 
the States to secede, and meant to take no action. President 
Buchanan going out of office seemed either to acquiesce in the 
views of the secessionists, or -fished to take no part in the 
matter, but leave the responsibility to his successor. In act- 
ing thus he by his delay rendered what might have been 
accomplished with a few hundred men and one or two ships of 
war without a drop of bloodshed a Herculean task, which 



92 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

could not now in any case be accomplished without an untold 
expense, and the sacrifice of thousands of lives. 

The uncertainty of what policy might be adopted by Mr. 
Lincoln, when he came into office on the 4th of March, kept 
minds in constant suspense. 

As to what Mr. Lincoln's policy might be there was nothing 
to indicate, and it was the subject of much speculation among 
the bulk of the people within the seceded States. 

No one thought that he would adopt a coercive policy ; it 
was now too late for that. 

It had been pointed out by Mr. Buchanan in his message to 
Congress, that the executive of the United States had really 
no power under the constitution to coerce sovereign States. 

The States had seceded separately from the Union, each 
remaining for a time a separate and independent Government, 
and afterwards formed themselves into a Confederacy, and all 
without any protest or hindrance on the part of the Federal 
Oovernment. They had the sympathy of the Middle States, 
and also of a large number of the Northern Democrats. They 
were now well organised and had become powerful, and the 
President could not but see that any attempt at coercion 
would lead to further secession, and meet with the most deter- 
mined resistance, and must result in civil war and bloodshed. 

The seceded States had sent commissioners to Washington 
to make arrangements for the transfer and payment of the 
forts, arsenals, and other United States property within the 
seceded States, which had been seized by the State volunteer 
forces, and also for the evacuation by the Federal troops of Fort 
Sumter in Charleston harbour, and Fort Pickens in Florida. 

These commissioners had been received at Washington, each 
party expressing a desire for a peaceful solution of the diffi- 
culty, but the negotiations made very little progress. 

This, however, had allayed to some extent the apprehensions 
of the people within the seceded States. They now considered 
that secession, for the time at least, was a foregone conclusion, 
and would not now be undone ; and it was hoped that by a 
little forbearance on both sides the whole thing would be 
peaceably arranged and war averted. 

It must be remembered, however, that this was still during 
Mr. Buchanan's administration ; and all now awaited with 
breathless anxiety the announcement of Lincoln's policy, as on 
that hinged the question of peace or war. 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 93 

The generally accepted opinion of the greater portion of the 
people within the seceded States and outwith the political 
circle was, that Lincoln on taking office would recognise the 
defect in the Federal constitution. The late administration 
and Congress had considered they had no power under the 
constitution to prevent the States seceding or to coerce them 
back into the Union. That, although not altogether acquiescing 
in these views he would still have before him the broad 
principle that the foundation of the United States government 
was based upon revolution. That it came into existence 
through revolution. That revolution was embodied in its 
principles, and that it would be unprecedented and unconsti- 
tutional as well as a difficult and clangorous matter to make 
any attempt at coercion without some special and lucid 
provision being made for it in the Federal constitution. That 
those six States had now become fully organised and powerful, 
and any attempt to coerce them would lead to much bloodshed 
and most likely to a further breach in the Union ; and while 
as yet only six States had seceded instead of the whole South, 
as had been anticipated, he would let them go in peace, accept- 
ing an indemnity (which they were willing to give) for forts and 
other United States' property within the seceded territory. 

With six States gone, and their representatives no longer in 
Congress, the President's party would be greatly strengthened. 
He would now be able to command a majority sufficient to 
enable him to amend the Federal constitution in respect to 
the right of States to secede, and also be able to deal with the 
question of slavery. 

The slave States which still remained in the Union would 
be so much in a minority that they could no longer hold any 
sway in Congress on the slave question. In some of these 
States slavery had become nearly extinct; in most of them it was 
becoming less popular, and in a short time it would by an almost 
unanimous vote be abolished entirely in the United States. 

The loss of the six States which had seceded and been 
formed into a separate Confederacy would, on the whole, have 
been no great price to pay for the peaceful and advantageous 
settlement of a question which had for years convulsed and 
divided the Union, and had kept it in a constant state of 
turmoil almost threatening its destruction. These views were 
par-ticularly plausible when considering the enormous territories 
still at the command of the United States waiting to be settled up. 



94 LIFE m THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Besides this, the isolation might be only temporary, as the 
six States would find themselves almost alone in maintaining 
their peculiar institution in the face of the civilised world. 
They would be surrounded and hemmed in by the free States 
of the more powerful Union, and they would have no fugitive 
slave law to protect their institution. The largest portion 
of the population being non-slaveholders, their sympathies 
would be with the old Union of which many of them were 
natives, and they were bound to it by strong ties of traditional 
attachment. In short, there was a great probability of these 
States again seeking admission severally back into the United 
States. 

The fundamental principles of the United States government 
being based on revolution, the Confederate States on the same 
principle maintained their right to secede severally and form 
a separate government. 

Upon this admitted principle it was open for any of the 
Confederate States to secede from the Confederacy by a vote 
of the majority of the population and declare itself an 
independent State, and then apply for admission back into the 
old Union, under an amended constitution, having no longer 
the right or power to secede. 

Thus in the end it might lead to a judicious plan of amend- 
ing the constitution, abolishing slavery, and establishing the 
central government on a firmer basis than ever. 

Whether with this view it would have been wise or practi- 
cable to have adopted such a policy, or whether Mr. Lincoln 
ever thought of such a policy, I do not pretend to know. It 
was talked of, and seemed to most sober thinking men in the 
South, as not only the wisest but the only constitutional 
course left open for him to pursue. It was further the con- 
ceded opinion of many able men both North and South, when 
they found that so few States had seceded that the wisest plan 
would be to let the rebellious States go in peace, and proceed 
to amend the constitution, and conserve the integrity of the 
Union in the States. 

The hope that Mr. Lincoln would adopt this course got to 
be strongly entertained among the moderate party in the 
seceded States after it became known that the majority of the 
Southern States had decided to remain in the Union, and the 
fear of war was allayed, and confidence was in some degree 
restored. 



CHAPTER IX. 

INAUGUEATION OF LINCOLN— HIS INAUGUEAL ADDRESS— GENERAL DISAP- 
POINTMENT—NEWSPAPER COMMENTS ON THE ADDRESS— HIS WANT OP 
DECISION OR POLICY — APPOINTMENT OP MR. SEWARD AS SECRETARY OF 
STATE— MR. SEWARD's KNOWN ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE SOUTH— GRAVE 
APPREHENSIONS— SUPPOSED SHUFFLING OF MR. SEWARD, AND ATTEMPTS 
TO PROVOKE THE SOUTH INTO WAR — CRITICAL POSITION AT CHARLESTON. 

Throughout the whole of this time Mr. Lincoln, the 
President-elect, had given no indication of what his policy 
would be. Several reports of interviews, or pretended inter- 
views, had been published in the Confederate newspapers, but 
these interviews (if ever they took place) showed nothing 
in particular. 

In fact, the pro-secession journals did not portray the new 
President in any favourable light. Their object seemed to be 
to prejudice the minds of the Southern people against him. 

At length the time came for his inauguration, and it was 
reported with great gusto by the Confederate newspapers that 
such was his unpopularity that when on his way to Washington 
he had to pass through the city of Baltimore clandestinely, 
sitting in a farmer's waggonette disguised in a Scotch bonnet 
and plaid. 

Whether there was any truth in this I do not know, but 
when his inaugural address came to be published it was 
certainly disappointing to the moderate party, not only in the 
Confederate States but throughout the whole of the South in 
general, which had been expecting to find in Mr. Lincoln a 
man whose wisdom and sagacity would have been equal to the 
occasion. The speech contained a great deal of meaningless 
rhetoric. He repudiated the abolition doctrine, and distinctly 
avowed that he had neither the wish nor the intention to 
interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it 
existed. He affected to treat lightly the serious state of 
matters, and in a somewhat silly and jocular manner congratu- 
lated his audience that there was " nobody hurt." He 
advocated the preservation of the Union, and declared that 
the constitution must be enforced at whatever cost. This 



96 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

was, of course, the stereotyped text of all inaugural addresses^ 
but he refrained from giving his views on the meaning of the 
constitution, or what powers he considered it embodied in 
regard to secession, or as to what policy he would adopt under 
its provisions. This was what the people eagerly desired to 
know, and it was very important and essential at the moment 
having regard to what Mr. Buchanan had said in his message 
to Congress. It was evident that Mr. Lincoln had no fixed 
policy of his own, and that he would in a great measure he 
guided by his cabinet. 

There is always in politics a party of zealots who are ever 
ready to magnify into greatness every action or utterance of 
some particular public man whom they admire and supports 
In this case the Lincoln journals and party set forth their 
high approval of the address, and lauded it in the highest 
terms as a production of great force and talent. Thousands, 
I believe, did so who neither read nor heard it, and neither 
knew nor understood anything about it but took it for 
granted. It was not reassuring to many in the north and 
South throughout, and to the moderate party in the Confederate 
States it was disappointing and disheartening. 

In the Confederate journals it was treated in the most 
derisive way, and described as a piece of meaningless 
bufibonery, whilst the Confederate leaders and political 
orators turned it to every possible account, and indulged in 
the most extravagant and insulting abuse of Mr. Lincoln and 
everything pertaining to the North ; all this, while intended 
to intensify the feeling in the South against the North, could 
not fail to alienate much of the sympathy and good feeling 
which up till now was still entertained by many in the North 
toward the South. 

For some time after Lincoln's inauguration he gave no 
indication of what his policy would be in regard to the 
seceded States. But the appointment of Mr. W. H. Seward 
as Secretary of State, whose well-known hostility toward the 
South gave rise to grave apprehensions, and again rumours of 
war became prevalent. 

The representative members from the seceded States had 
now all retired from the Federal Congress at Washington, and 
the Confederate Commissioners who had been sent to nego- 
tiate during Buchanan's administration, had returned without 
effecting any arrangement. 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 9/ 

Coimnissioners were again sent from Montgomerie to nego- 
tiate with Lincoln's Government, and more especially in the 
meantime to treat for the evacuation of Fort Sumter, the 
holding of which by the Federal troops was considered 
dangerous to the preservation of peace, and might lead to a 
rupture at any moment. 

These commissioners were neither received nor repudiated, 
but their hearing put off from time to time, or as it was put 
before the people in the Confederate States, they were desired 
by Mr. Seward to " wait a little." 

In the meantime the suspense among the general population 
within the Confederate States became intolerable. A month 
had now passed since Lincoln came into power, and yet he had 
taken no action, nor given the slightest indication of what his 
intentions were. Rumours of all kinds were constantly being 
circulated, now that hostilities had actually broken out. 
" Fighting at Fort Pickens " — " Fighting at Baltimore " 
— " Fighting at Charleston," and at other times that peace 
was likely to be preserved ; that a joint-commission from all 
the States was to be appointed to arrange all matters in 
dispute, and devise some means of settlement. Every day 
some new report was circulated, to be denied the next. 

It soon got to be the general belief among all classes in the 
Confederate States — and there seems to have been good grounds 
for the belief — that Lincoln's cabinet was shuffling. No kind 
of reply or statement of their views, favourable or unfavour- 
able, would they make to the Confederate commissioners. Still 
less favourable was said to have been the reception of some 
representatives of the loyal or Union party in the South, who 
were said to have privately requested an interview with regard 
to their position. 

It was the opinion of many quiet but wise and intelligent 
men in the South, that although Mr. Lincoln might be an 
honest, upright, and simple man, and had no bad feeling or 
intention towards the South, still he had as an adviser in Mr. 
Seward, a subtle and deceitful man possessed of great ability, 
and having an intense hatred toward the South. 

As matters had now become so critical that hostilities might 
break out at any moment, and as the eyes of everyone both 
North and South were watching with breathless suspense the 
impending crisis, and as the onus of the war would lie on the 
side which struck the first blow, Mr. Seward's desire was to 

G 



98 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

crush the South by a war, but in order that he might have the 
popular feeling on his side, his object further was to make the 
South the aggressor. He therefore sought to goad them into 
striking the first blow. He knew the feeling this would pro- 
duce throughout the country at large, that it would set the 
nation in a blaze and rouse the North to a man. 

He knew from the vain and arrogant pretensions of the 
rabid secessionists, and the fiery impetuosity of their leaders, 
that he could easily provoke them into striking a blow, while 
the intemperate swagger and insulting braggadocio of some of 
the Southern newspapers was fast alienating the good feeling 
which had hitherto been displayed by the people of the ISTorth 
in general towards the South, and creating a feeling amongst 
them of just indignation at the unreasonable and hostile 
attitude taken up by many of the Southern papers. Thus by 
stirring up a hostile feeling in the North, and then provoking 
the South to strike a blow he would thereby accomplish his 
object and efiectually crush the South out of existence, so that 
it would never again have a voice in the Government. 

That those who entertained such opinions might have been 
right in their conjectures seems to have been somewhat sub- 
stantiated by what immediately followed, and by many 
discussions which I heard during the war between parties of 
Northern and Southern soldiers when opportunities offered, 
such as at truce meetings, or with prisoners of war, when the 
Southerners asserted that all they wanted was to be let alone, 
the invariable reply was. Who began the war ? Who struck 
the first blow 1 Who battered the walls of Fort Sumter 1 

It may be said that such arguments were only the opinions 
of soldiers who knew nothing of the higher theories of states- 
manship or diplomacy ; but, when it is remembered that these 
men were intelligent citizens, and it was from these opinions 
that Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet obtained their support and 
positions, it was necessary for them to use every device to 
mould public opinion, and turn it so as to enable them to 
carry out their designs. 

Fort Sumter, in South Carolina, was now the critical point, 
situated as it was in the middle of Charleston harbour, and 
occupied by the Federal troops, and blockaded by the Con- 
federate forces. 

Fort Sumter, being situated on an island near the centre of 
Charleston harbour, commanded the entrance to the harbour 



I 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 99 

and also the city of Charleston. It was a strong and powerful 
work, and being surrounded by water could only be approached 
by means of boats. 

Fort Moultrie was situated on a point of the mainland more 
seawards, and commanded the passage leading from the har- 
bour out to sea. 

When South Carolina seceded from the Union, Fort Sumter 
was unoccupied by any force, but Fort Moultrie was occupied 
by Major Anderson with a force of about 80 United States 
troops. Major Anderson, seeing that he could not hold Fort 
Moultrie against the State troops, should they approach by 
land and make a demand on him to surrender it, made a 
sudden movement into Fort Sumter, which could not be 
approached by land. 

This movement irritated the secessionists ; they had not 
taken the precaution to secure Fort Sumter before it was 
occupied by the Federal troops, and it would be a difficult 
matter now to get the Federal troops to retire from Charleston 
by a mere display of force and without a conflict. 

Nevertheless the Confederates speedily occupied Fort Moul- 
trie, and cut oflf all communication with Fort Sumter by sea ; 
and, although it was known that Major Anderson had taken 
considerable stores with him from Fort Moultrie, it was a 
mere question of time that the garrison of Fort Sumter would 
be starved into submission, unless the Federal Government 
should force a passage past Fort Moultrie and relieve it. 

In the meantime the friendly intercourse between the 
officers and men of the garrison in Fort Sumter and the 
citizens of Charleston was not broken. They were allowed to 
come and go in their boats, and purchase in the city what 
goods and fresh provisions they required as before. 

The commissioners which had been sent to Washington by 
the seceded States during Buchanan's ministry insisted on the 
evacuation of Fort Sumter by the Federal troops, and a 
censure on the conduct of Major Anderson. 

General Scott, who was commander of the United States 
army, considered the movement as strategetic, and commended 
the conduct of Major Anderson as an officer. 

Mr. Floyd, Secretary of War, recommended the withdrawal 
of the garrison as a safeguard against any immediate outbreak 
of hostilities. 

President Buchanan, who by virtue of his office was com- 



100 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

mander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, 
had refused to take any action in the matter, but left it first 
to be decided by Congress whether South Carolina and the 
other seceding States should be acknowledged as independent 
powers or not. 

As Congress took no action in the matter, the commissioners 
had returned without anything being effected. 

In the meantime an attempt had been made to provision 
Fort Sumter ; a steamer, the Star of the West, had been sent 
with supplies ; but as she approached the entrance to Charles- 
ton harbour a gun from Fort Moultrie was fired across her 
bow, and she immediately put back and sailed home. I have 
heard it insinuated that this was only a kind of form — a mere 
show of an attempt to relieve the garrison, and a mere form 
of resistance, a mere feeler to find if the Confederates would 
actually resist any attempt to relieve the garrison. In any 
case the attempt made to relieve the garrison was a very 
weak one, and a very slight hint was sufficient to cause them 
to desist. 

Some attempts were made by the extreme parties and 
newspapers, both North and South, to manufacture political 
capital and strife out of the event. 

The Southern fire-eaters attempted to make a boast of the 
pluck of the Confederates and their determination to resist 
any aggression ; while the Northern abolitionists and fanatics 
seemed to gloat over what they described as a gross outrage 
and cause for war — " The rebels firing into a United States 
steamer." 

After Lincoln came into power, and while the Confederate 
commissioners at Washington were waiting for an audience, 
General Scott advised that, without prejudice to any view that 
the Federal Government might take in regard to the seceded 
States, or what action they might afterwards take, that in the 
meantime the troops should be withdrawn from Fort Sumter 
as a military necessity. Their presence there could in no case 
be of any advantage to the United States, but rather an 
embarrassment. No action was taken on this advice. It was 
evident that Mr. Seward, who was now the master spirit in 
Washington, was formulating some scheme of his own. Some 
attempts had been made to throw supplies into Fort Sumter ; 
and the Confederates, irritated at what they considered the 
shuffling of Mr. Seward, cut off the supplies which the garrison 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 101 

had been receiving from the city of Charleston, strengthened 
Fort Moultrie and placed heavy guns to command eflfectually 
the entrance to the harbour, thus stopping any approach from 
the sea, and preventing the Federal government throwing in 
reinforcements or supplies to Fort Sumter. 

General Scott is said to have again advised the withdrawal 
of the troops from Fort Sumter as a military necessity. 

Mr. Lincoln again declined. It was e\T.dent that Mr. 
Seward, who was the real head of affairs at Washington, saw 
very well that the vanity and pugnacity of Jefferson Davis 
and his cabinet, and the defiant and warlike attitude of the 
Confederate leaders, would soon overcome their patience and 
wiser judgment, and cause them to commit themselves by 
striking a blow somewhere which would thoroughly rouse the 
indignation of the North and make the war against the South 
popular. 

Nor was he wrong in his conjecture. 

The Confederate government, if they now ^vished to avoid 
the responsibility of striking the first blow, acted with a 
rashness quite uncalled for and amounting to stupidity. 

The troops in Fort Sumter were, undoubtedly, kept there 
by the Federal government for no other purpose than to 
provoke and irritate the secessionists. They were there of 
not the slightest use to the Federal government. They could 
act in no way — they were entirely blockaded and cut off from 
receiving any support or supplies. 

When Major Anderson abandoned Fort Moultrie, he spiked 
the guns and moved into the stronger position of Fort Sumter, 
which commanded Fort Moultrie and the whole harbour and 
town of Charleston. The secessionists could not approach 
him as the fort Avas entirely surrounded by water, and they 
had no armed vessels or any power on the water whatever. 
In making this movement he no doubt expected that the 
Federal government would send him immediate support. 
Had the Federal government at the time supported the 
movement by sending a single ship of war into Charleston 
harbour, and reinforcing and strengthening Fort Sumter, they 
could easily have prevented the secessionists from mounting a 
single gun at Charleston, and the town and harbour at least 
must have remained under the power of the Union. But it 
was now too late. Three months had passed away, and the 
secessionists had had it all their own way. 



102 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

General Beauregarde, who commanded the Confederate 
forces at Charleston, saw the position, and had been most 
indefatigable in his exertions to strengthen it. He had 
mounted heavy guns at Fort Moultrie, and so strengthened 
the fort as to be able successfully to resist any attack by sea 
which the United States could make upon it, and thus rendered 
impossible any immediate attempt to relieve or reinforce Fort 
Sumter. 

He had also erected land batteries of heavy guns against 
Fort Sumter, and all supplies being now cut off from that 
fort, the garrison was reduced to extremities, and its ine"vdtable 
surrender from starvation was only a question of a few days' 
time. 

It was therefore very natural that General Scott, a military 
man of great ability, should advise the withdrawal of the 
troops as a military necessity while an opportunity still existed, 
for had hostilities broken out the Federal garrison would have 
been prisoners of war and so much loss to the United States. 

But Mr. Seward knew his own game; he had effectually 
measured the patience, prudence, and sagacity of Jefferson 
Davis and his cabinet. 

While it seems inexplicable that the Confederate leaders 
should without any apparent necessity act so precipitantly, 
and incur the onus and responsibility of the war by bombard- 
ing the fort and actually commencing hostilities, I have 
never heard any satisfactory reason given for the rash act. 
Of course the excuse set forth by the Confederate leaders 
was the importance of the fort and the great danger to be 
apprehended to the Confederate cause should the Federal 
Government be able to send an expedition to force an entry 
into Charleston harbour and occupy and strengthen Fort 
Sumter. 

But there was not the slightest grounds for this apprehen- 
sion, and the Confederate commanders had no such apprehen- 
sions. The time was now gone past for this. It would have 
been impossible for the Federal Government to have got ready 
an expedition in less than three months which could with any 
chance of success attempt to force a passage into Charleston, 
whilst it was well known that the garrison could not hold out 
for more than ten days at the very utmost. 

The real and direct cause, so far as I ever could see, was a 
vain desire on the part of Jefferson Davis and some of the 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 103 

Confederate leaders to gain notoriety, fame, or glory, and stir 
up a warlike feeling throughout the South, and to gratify the 
vanity of a number of young newly-made officers who paraded 
the streets and shone forth at balls with jewelled swords and 
handsome uniforms, making great professions of zeal and im- 
patient to be led on to battle, and other fiery demagogues who 
thirsted for war, but who all disappeared from the scene after 
the war broke out in earnest. 

To illustrate this I believe I cannot do better than relate 
one single instance of what I saw and heard. 



CHAPTER X. 

A DISCUSSION IN A CAFE ON THE SITUATION — MODERATE MEN AND 
FIRE-EATERS. 

It was in the beginning of April, 1861, a few days before the 
bombardment of Fort Sumter. At this time great activity 
was being displayed at Baton Kouge arsenal in preparing and 
sending off heavy guns, shot, shell, and other munitions to 
Fort Jackson and the other forts commanding the entrance to 
the Mississippi river, when I chanced one evening along with 
a friend to step into the cafe of the principal hotel at Baton 
Rouge, where some of the chief officers were putting up. 

Standing near the bar was a group of officers in uniform in 
conversation with some of the leading citizens of the place. 
Conspicuous among them was a Mr. D., formerly known as 
captain, but the jumps at that time from captain to general 
were so rapid that their toes seemed scarcely to touch the 
intermediate steps, so that I do not know what rank he may 
have held on that particular day, but I presume from the way 
he was addressed that it may have been " Major." 

The subject, of .course, was the great revolution, and the 
centre to which all eyes were turned was the critical position 
at Fort Sumter. The following is about the substance of the 
conversation : — 

" I hope," said Dr. P., " that our leaders at Charleston will 
act cautiously, and not be led into the trap Mr. Seward has 
laid for them." 

" What trap do you mean?" said Mr. T. J. 

" Why, into striking the first blow, and throwing upon us 
the onus and responsibility of the war." 

" Confound the onus and responsibility," said Judge R., 
" they have been the aggressors, and with them rests the 
responsibility." 

" Well, we consider them the aggressors," said Mr. S., " but 
the world at large may not be of that opinion." 

" What do we care for the opinion of the world at large ? " 
said Mr. H., as he drained off his glass and looked around to 
see who was likely to stand treat next. 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 105 

" Well, I do not mean so much the opinion of European 
powers," replied Mr. S., " though that may be something, but 
that of the other States is a very great matter. We have 
novi^ the sympathy of the powerful States all around us, — 
Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, and all the other Southern 
States sympathise with us, and would resist any force being 
sent through their territory to coerce us. But we know they 
are all wishful to avoid war, and for us to strike a blow 
unnecessarily would be against us, and considerably alienate 
their sympathy." 

" S. and the Doctor were always Unionists and submis- 
sionists," said Judge R., " and I suppose would submit to be 
crushed under the feet of Lincoln and his abolition crew ; for 
me, before I would submit to such degradation, I would mount 
my horse and go alone and fight against the abolition hordes ! " 

" I admit," rejoined Mr. S., " that I have been always in 
favour of Union, if that is possible, and due respect is paid to 
Southern rights and interests. But if those are unduly 
encroached upon, then I advocate secession and accept it ; but 
I prefer that it should be done peaceably, and I see no reason 
why it should not. I am certain that a large majority of the 
population of the whole States, both North and South, although 
opposed to our secession, are still opposed to any coercion 
against us, and that if no arrangement can be made to 
persuade us to remain in the Union, we should be allowed to 
go in peace. But if we, without any just cause, strike a blow 
and commence hostilities, then we turn the tide of popular 
feeling against us, and we just play into the hands of that 
unprincipled man, Seward, who is known to be the bitter 
enemy of the South, and who is just leading by the nose that 
simple and ignorant man, Lincoln, and playing his own cards 
so as to provoke us to strike in order to rouse the indignation 
of the North and turn all the other States against us, which 
would not only strengthen his hands but give him good grounds 
for swooping down upon us in all his fury, and enable him to 
gratify his long pent-up revenge upon the South. He is just, 
as Dr. P. has said, ' Laying a trap for us by keeping those 
troops in Fort Sumter to provoke us into hostilities.' " 

" Then why not blow them to h— 11 ? " roared T. J. " He 
is keeping them there to insult us by waving their detested 
Yankee flag in the middle of our harbour and before our eyes. 
Is that not a just cause for striking a blow 1 " 



106 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

" Discretion and caution is better," continued Mr. S. 

" Discretion and caution be d d," roared Mr. H. " Let 

us have another drink." Mr. S. immediately ordered drinks 
all round to keep Mr. H. quiet. 

"It is not so much discretion and caution as good policy 
and strategy," continued Mr. S. " We have nothing to appre- 
hend from the United States troops in Fort Sumter. They 
may wave their flag there for a few days longer, but for a very 
few days only. They are virtually our prisoners. Beaure- 
garde has so strengthened the forts guarding the approach to 
Charleston that it is quite impossible for the United States to 
force an entrance to relieve them, nor will they attempt it, 
and in a few days they will be starved out and they will be 
quite in our power, and we will have the fort in good condi- 
tion without having it damaged by a bombardment, and the 
defences of Charleston will be complete and nothing done to 
provoke a rupture. We would then be in a position to stand 
on the defensive without making any advance toward war, and 
we would still have the sympathy of a large portion of the 
people both North and South ; and there are plenty of sensible 
men, North and South, to settle this matter without war." 

" It is all nonsense now to talk of peace," said Judge R. 
" War must come, and the sooner it comes the better ; and I 
denounce any man who would talk of Union or advocate peace 
or submission to Lincoln's rule." 

"As to that, Judge," replied Mr. S., "I do not exactly 
understand what term you would apply to me. I am not an 
advocate of peace at any price, and I am ready to stand out 
for the rights of the South as you are. I have a son a mid- 
shipman in the United States navy, and I have written to 
him to resign and come home if a rupture takes place. I have 
other two sons who have already joined volunteer companies, 
and are preparing themselves to join in the defence if it should 
become necessary and war is the ultimatum. As for myself, 
I trust to do my duty as far as lies in my power. But I do 
not aspire to the Herculean task of fighting the Northern 
hordes single-handed, and I regard such language as idle 
balderdash." 

Major D., who had till now preserved a dignified silence, 
now spoke up with all the pomp of a military dictator. 
" Gentlemen," said he, " it is neither possible nor desirable 
that this matter should be settled like a common law plea, 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. lOT 

and without a clash of arms. It would be a paper agreement, 
patched up by a set of political lawyers. Our revolution would 
not be worth the name of a revolution, and our independence 
not worth having if it was not baptized in blood. We have 
now gained the position over the enemy ; we must show them 
our power ; we must strike terror into them. We can now 
present to them a strong and unbroken front, and show them 
that we are in earnest, and this we will do, and it matters 
little who likes and who don't like it, and I hope to see 
Beauregarde open fire on Fort Sumter before this week is out." 

" What is the last news, Major 1 " cried several voices 
" There is a report just come in that — " 

" The last news," cried the Major (interrupting lest anyone 
should anticipate him), " is that Beauregarde has, by order of 
President Davis, demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter. 
He has given Major Anderson three days to surrender, and if 
he don't surrender in that time he will open fire upon the fort. 
Major Anderson has replied that he has supplies for six days 
only, but if he gets no instructions from Washington he ^vill 
hold out while he has a single biscuit left." 

" Then I think," said Mr. S., " that they should let him eat 
his last biscuit, and then let him surrender quietly." 

" No," replied the Major ; " we must give them a taste of 
Southern fire ; we must show them that we are not to be trifled 
with. Beauregarde must not lose the chance of striking terror 
into them. I only wish I had the chance." 

" You may get the chance in good time, Major," said Mr. S., 
"■ if war breaks out, for depend upon it, if it does, it will not 
be long before they make an attempt to get control of the 
Mississippi river, and it would be a gone cause Avith us if they 
got that." 

" That is what I would not like to see them get," said Mr. 
T., an old veteran, and now one of the chief men in the 
Ordnance Department. 

" That is just what I would like to see them attempt," said 
Captain J., a newly-fledged Confederate officer in shining 
uniform, who was in command of the troops in the garrison. 

" Attempt it ! " said the Major Avith an air of self-satisfac- 
tion; " that is just what I am afraid they ^vill not attempt; if 
they do, I am there." 

" And if they do, I am there too," said Captain J. 

" And I will be there too," said Mr. H., as he looked around,. 



108 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

taking care to show that his glass was empty, " and we will 
fatten the cat-fish in the river on their abolition carcases." 

At this time Mr. T., of the Ordnance Department, having 
recognized us, left the party and came over and joined us, and 
we walked out together. 

Mr. T. was a veteran who had served in the Mexican war, 
and he had been over twelve years a foreman in the Ordnance 
Department; he was a respectable man, and we w^ere both 
acquainted with him, his son being a member of the same 
volunteer company as myself. 

" He seems to be a terrible warrior that Major D.," remarked 
my companion as soon as we had got out to the street. 

" Bosh," said Mr. T., " he is a squirt, he is freezing for a fight, 
and I doubt much if there would be much fight in him if put 
to the test." 

" Has he got command of the forts at the mouth of the 
river ? " 

" Yes, I believe so ; he has got charge of the mounting of 
them anyway." 

" Is he a graduate of West Point ? " 

" O, I suppose so, and I believe he has been in the regular 
army." 

" What is he that Captain J. ? " 

" O, he is no military man, he is just learning ; he got his 
commission and that post because he took an active part in 
the secession movement." 

" He seems to have plenty of confidence in himseK anyhow," 
observed my companion. 

"Ah! they all have plenty of confidence in themselves, 
these fire-eaters. I only wish they may be up to the mark 
when the time comes." 

" Do you think there is any truth in what Major D. was 
saying about Beauregarde going to bombard Fort Sumter ? " 

" Well, I would not doubt but there is." 

" Well, I think they are going mad altogether." 

"■ It is certainly madness, but that is between ourselves," 
and Mr. T. put his finger to his lip as a sign of the times. 

My companion, who was a citizen and a man of some stand- 
ing in the place, observed the motion and bit his lip. " Well, 
I think," said he, " that old S. gave them his mind pretty 
freely there to-night." 

" Yes," he did, said Mr. T., " and spoke good sense too. 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 109 

Old S. does not care for one of them. They can't cow him ; 
he has more brains and more fire too than all that was there 
put together, I only wish we had more men like him 
amongst us." 

" I believe if we had," said my companion, "we would have 
had no secession." 

" We would not," said Mr. T. " Good night." And Mr. 
T. took his leave, and we went home. 

I might here anticipate a little, and give a short sketch of 
the characters who took part in this conversation, and the 
parts they afterwards took. 

- Dr. P. was a man well advanced in years. He had been in 
early life a physician, but became a planter, and owned a large 
number of slaves. He retained his Union principles as far as 
it was possible for him to do so ; he kept very quiet, and took 
little or no part in the secession movement. 

When New Orleans and other parts of the State were sub- 
dued by the Federal forces he exerted himself as a mediator, 
and by his influence got some of his old friends released and 
paroled Avho had been imprisoned by Butler and other Federal 
commanders. 

Mr. S. was also advanced in years, was also a planter and 
slaveowner and a merchant. 

When Lincoln issued his proclamation he became an active 
supporter of the Confederacy. His sons all joined the Con- 
federate army. One of them was in the same company with 
me, and was brave to recklessness. 

Judge R. was a younger man. He had followed law and 
had been a judge, but was now a planter and slaveowner. He 
continued to make warlike speeches, until told that warlike 
words were no longer wanted but warlike deeds, but he could 
never be prevailed upon or even shamed into joining the army. 
He vanished from the scene. 

T. J. was a planter and slaveowner; he was also a compara- 
tive young man. He had made himself so conspicuous as a 
votary of war and a fire-eater that he was constrained to take 
some part, and obtained an appointment as a commissary, 
which he held for some time while the commissary department 
was fat and healthy; but when that got lean and unhealthy 
so did T. J., and he retired on the sick list. 

Mr. H. had also been a planter and slaveowner ; but, being 
also a good judge of brandy, his plantation and slaves got 



110 LIFE IX THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

heavily mortgaged to Northern capitalists, and ultimately 
became the means of converting to Southern principles one 
or more of the Northern abolitionists who came South and 
took possession of his plantation and slaves, and quite abjured 
their abolition sentiments. Mr. H. then adopted the less 
successful method of making converts by becoming a politiciaij 
and advocating Southern rights from the stump until his coat 
and his subject alike became threadbare. He continued to be 
a frequenter of the cafes, and throughout the war always 
contrived to be on good terms with either Confederates or 
Federals, just as the one or the other happened to be in pos- 
session of the place. 

Major D. speedily became a general, and was entrusted with 
the defence of the Mississippi and commanded the forts near 
the entrance of the river. Great confidence was placed in 
him. He was called the gallant D. by the newspapers and the 
ladies. He commanded the forts and defended the river very 
bravely until the enemy made their first a^Dpearance, when of 
the defence he made there are many conflicting reports, but it 
was not what was expected of him. The Federal fleet sailed 
past, occupied New Orleans, and got control of the lower 
Mississippi, which was the first and most fatal blow to the 
Confederate States. The gallant D. surrendered himself a 
prisoner of war, accepted a parole and went and took his 
residence quietly in the North, and that was the last of the 
gallant D. 

Captain J., who had been so wishful to see the Federal 
forces attempt the Mississippi river, got the opportunity of 
having his wish gratified. He did not, however, wait to see 
them, but quickly abandoned his post. It is true he could not 
have held it against the Federal fleet ; but the precipitancy of 
his retreat without reconnoitering or taking some observation 
of the enemy's movements caused some comment. 

He afterwards came to our camp at Corinth, and was 
recounting with great gusto his feat of destroying some of the 
garrison property so that it should not fall into the hands of 
the enemy, and was describing how he had taken down the 
flagstaff and broken it into pieces. 

" Did you break it over a Yankee's head," jeeringly said little 
A. B., a lad in our company not yet seventeen years of age. 

Captain J. turned fiercely on him, and recognized in him a 
boy whose head he had threatened to break for some httle 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. Ill 

offence about the garrison gates at Baton Rouge about a year 
before. 

That lad was now a veteran, ha\ing fought in three battles, 
and had been once wounded. 

Captain J. had little more to say, cut the conversation 
short, and sneaked off. 

On the morning after I had witnessed this scene, the news- 
papers gave an account of the communication between General 
Beauregarde and Major Anderson something similar to what 
had been related by Major D. General Beauregarde, in the 
name of the Confederate States, had given Major Anderson a 
certain time to surrender the fort, and if he did not surrender 
it in that time, he would open fire upon it. To which Major 
Anderson replied that he could get no instructions from Wash- 
ington, but that he would return the fire and defend the fort 
as far as it was in his power, and if Beauregarde did not 
batter him to pieces, he would in any case be starved out in 
a few days. 

It has been stated that General Beauregarde and Major 
Anderson, who were both men of the highest honour and 
integrity, were upon the most friendly terms with each other; 
that Beauregarde was pressed by the impetuosity of Jefferson 
Davis and his cabinet, and Major Anderson was disgusted 
with the mean and deceitful shuffling of the Government at 
Washington. And there was a mutual understanding between 
them that the bombardment should take place. It would on 
the one hand gratify the vanity and ambition of Jefferson 
Davis and the Confederate leaders, and on the other hand 
reheve Major Anderson from his awkward position, and afford 
him an honourable pretext for surrendering the fort. 



1 



CHAPTER XI. 

BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER — NOBODY HURT — CONSEQUENCES OF THE 
ACT — CONFEDERATE LEADERS VAINGLORIOUS — IMAGINARY VICTORY TO 
JEFFERSON DAVIS —GREATER VICTORY TO MR SEWARD — LINCOLN'S WAR 
PROCLAMATION — THE FEELING IT PRODUCED — INDIGNATION OF THE 
PEOPLE— THEY NOW' SECEDE IN EARNEST, 

On the 12th of April, 1861, Beauregarde opened fii-e upon 
Fort Sumter ; his force was about 8,000 men, and about 200 
heavy guns. 

Major Anderson's force in Fort Sumter numbered about 
83 men, and they replied with as many guns as they could 
work to advantage. 

The bombardment continued for about two days, when some 
wooden buildings in the fort were discovered to be. on fire. 
Whether this was from the efiect of the Confederate shells or 
from some other cause is not known, but the garrison worn 
out after a gallant defence displayed a flag of truce, a parley 
was gone through, and Major Anderson's force evacuated the 
fort carrying their arms and colours and with all the honours 
of war. Major Anderson for the time being became the 
honoured guest of General Beauregarde. 

It has been facetiously remarked that the gunnery on both 
sides must have been exceedingly good, as this tremendous 
cannonade was kept up for two days without a single person 
being hurt on either side. This was supposed to have been 
the object of the combatants, but how it was carried out 
without accident seems almost a miracle ; and, notwithstanding 
the serious state of matters, it was humorously remarked 
throughout the South that Mr. Lincoln would still be able to 
express, as before, the only views he had ever given of his 
opinion or intended policy in regard to the situation, which 
was a congratulation " that there was nobody hurt." 

The ceremony (for it was nothing more) was thus over, and 
Fort Sumter was now in the hands of the Confederates. 

Bloodless and farcical as this performance seems to have 
been, it was the great factor in, and originator of, the 
devastating war through years of bloodshed which followed. 



THE SECESSIOX MOVEMENT. 113 

Truly did General Banks say two years afterwards, in his 
proclamation at New Orleans, that the first gun fired at 
Sumter proclaimed emancipation. 

A little prudence on the part of Jefierson Davis and his 
cabinet, and a little patience, was all that was now required. 

They might have sat in perfect security, and in a week's 
time the garrison would have surrendered. They would have 
got possession of the fort sound and entire. That "first gun 
at Sumter " would never have been fired, war might have been 
averted, and emancipation in due time have come through a 
bloodless path. Mr. Seward would not yet have had a just 
cause to declare war against the seceded States; he would not 
have had the undivided sympathy of the North in attempting 
to coerce them, and he would not have been justified even by 
the bulk of the Northern people in declaring war without 
first making at least some attempt at a peaceful settlement. 

The news of the bombardment and fall of Fort Sumter 
spread like lightning throughout the whole States, North and 
South. The vainglorious triumph of Jefferson Davis and the 
Confederate leaders knew no bounds ; it w^as paraded as a 
great victory for the Southern arms, and was made use of in 
every possible way to rouse a warlike feeling in the South. A 
great many, however, regarded the affair in a more serious 
light, and saw the chances of peace getting less and less. 

While Jefferson Davis and the Confederate leaders were 
triumphing over their imaginary victory and flooding the 
country with speeches about the prowess of Southern arms 
and threatening all opponents with a taste of Southern gun- 
powder and Southern steel, Mr. Seward was chuckling over 
the much more important victory he had gained. 

His plans had succeeded completely. He had obtained the 
casus belli he had sought, and had manoeuvred so that the 
Confederate States should strike the first blow, and give him 
cause to wreak his vengeance on the South, and he did not 
fail to avail himself of the opportunity. 

The Lincoln newspapers of course made the most of it. 
The Northern people, few of whom knew the position or 
understood Mr. Seward's game, were fired with indignation, 
and the feeling against the Confederate States was general 
throughout the North, and the bombardment of Fort Sumter 
was declared to be the opening of hostilities and the com- 
mencement of war. 



114 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Mr. Seward took care to take the tide at the flood. He did 
not give the Northern people time to reflect, or allow any 
pro-Southern papers time to comment on his shuffling game 
or plead any extenuating circumstances on behalf of the Con- 
federates, few as there were to plead, but followed up the 
news of the bombardment so quickly with an exposition of 
Mr. Lincoln's policy by his proclamation and declaration of 
war that it was obvious he must have had it all prepared 
and ready before the bombardment took place. He at the 
same time turned to the commissioners whom he had kept 
waiting for an audience and gave as his reply — "ISTo compro- 
mise with traitors." 

I may observe that any opinions I may express on these 
subjects are the summing up of sentiments I heard privately 
expressed on the rapidly occurring events during that critical 
period by men of sound wisdom and integrity who kept entirely 
out of the political circle. And I think it is unfortunate, and 
must be disastrous to popular governments, when so many of 
the wisest and most virtuous men show such apathy in public 
matters and allow public affairs to get into the hands of a few 
unprincipled demagogues who usurp the name of the people, 
and to which usurped power the most respectable of society 
must, as in this case, in the end become slaves and \dctims. 
To the apathy of the honest and respectable people, and to 
the usurpation of power by unprincipled political demagogues, 
may be ascribed the Avhole consequences of this fratricidal and 
■devastating war. 

Mr. Lincoln's proclamation, which was issued immediately 
after the bombardment of Fort Sumter, was a declaration of 
war against the States said to be in rebellion against the 
United States, and a call for 75,000 men to crush the rebel- 
lion. To each State outside of the Confederacy was issued an 
order to furnish its quota of men. And an imperative demand 
was made upon these States in rebellion to lay down their arms 
and submit to the authority of the United States within 10 days. 

The purport of this proclamation was so sweeping and 
imperative and so menacing in its tone, that it caused the 
greatest excitement not only within the Confederate States 
but throughout the whole of the Southern States. It seemed 
to outdo even the arrogance and pugnacity of Jefferson Da^ds 
and his cabinet. It left no opening for any peaceful settle- 
ment, and it entirely ignored the existence of any loyal or 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 115 

peaceful citizens within the Confederate States. It made no 
4ippeal to them. It held out to them no guarantee or promise 
•of protection or amnesty. It gave them no alternative but 
unconditional surrender or the sword. 

This was what was called Lincoln's proclamation, and he 
had to bear the name of it, and against him was kindled the 
^nger of every man, woman, and child in the South. It was, 
however, the opinion of many, and this opinion was freely 
•expressed with what justice I do not pretend to say, that 
although Lincoln's name was appended to it, it never eman- 
ated from him with the full knowledge of its purport, but that 
Mr. Seward was in every word of it. The Federal Executive 
well knew that such a proclamation would never be obeyed ; 
and Mr. Seward had so arranged matters that he had got his 
Southern enemies duly convicted, and the powerful North 
fully aroused to execute the punishment. He gloated over 
the blow he was about to strike. The mere punishment of 
the leaders and actual perpetrators would not satisfy him, 
but, like Haman of old, he must have a glutting revenge. 
Every one ^vithin the Southern States must yield to his grace 
at the point of the bayonet. 

Such was the construction put upon the proclamation by 
the great body of the people within the seceded States ; and 
such was the light in which it was regarded, and the way it 
was commented upon. How far the proclamation itself, or 
the construction put upon it may have been warranted or 
justifiable it is not for me to say, but this sudden development 
of Lincoln's policy, as it was called, took every one by surprise, 
because it was so sudden and unexpected. 

The so-called bombardment of Fort Sumter, though no 
doubt a high-handed act, and might be called an outrage, yet 
it was no more than many similar acts already done by the 
seceding States of which the Federal Government had taken 
no cognizance. 

It was known to be nothing more than a mere demonstration, 
with a careful avoidance of bloodshed previously arranged 
between the two commanders, a harmless glove fight on the 
same principle as the seizing of the arsenal and garrison at 
Baton Rouge by a mere display of force; but, as in this case 
the fort could not be approached by infantry by land, a form 
of a bombardment was gone through, the result of which will 
speak for itself. 



116 LIFE IN TUE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

The Confederate Government, if they really desired a peace- 
ful settlement, must have seen afterwards their error — 
although they never admitted it — and how they had been out- 
witted by Mr. Seward in thus letting him get the handle- 
which he so quickly made use of. 

It has been stated that secession was not the unanimous 
act of the States, but that a large portion of the population 
was beguiled or coerced into the act. In refutation of this 
it is said that this is disproved by the unanimity with v/hich 
the Southerners took up arms and fought so determinedly 
for their independence. 

So far as my observation went at the time the Act of Seces- 
sion was passed, the population was not unanimously in favour 
of it, and in most of the States the majority of the peoplo 
were opposed to it. The act was carried through chiefly by 
the machinations of politicians, and some of the more rabid 
pro-slavery men who had extreme views on the subject. But 
the inaction of the Federal Government and their seeming 
acquiescence in the movement caused many to accept the 
situation, and when Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated, his seeming 
indecision and imbecility, followed by the supposed shufiling 
and deceitful policy of Mr. Seward, caused a still greater 
number to adhere to the secession party. But when Mr. 
Lincoln's war proclamation was issued calling for troops tO' 
crush the seceded States into obedience, then in reality did 
unanimous secession take place. The people within the Con- 
federate States, especially those who had been favourable tO' 
union and opposed to secession, were now face to face with the 
situation. 

Many of them would have given half of what they possessed 
to have preserved the Union. They would have been ready 
to take up arms to support the authority of the Federal 
Government, if that Government had at the proper time 
shown the slightest disposition to afford them any support or 
protection. The Federal Government had neither by word or 
act given them the slightest encouragement, it had rather 
seemed to point out to them that it was their duty to obey 
and submit to the secession Government. 

The Federal Government had with every seeming acquies- 
cence, and without resistance and without protest on the part 
of the administrative, handed over to the secessionists the 
forts, arsenals, arms, and munitions of war, to be used if need 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 117 

be in coercing into submission any part of the population who 
might be opposed to secession. The Buchanan Government 
had abandoned them and left them no other resource but to 
submit to the secession Government. 

The secession Government had gained strength, and become 
firmly established, and they had as a matter of necessity 
accepted it for the time being. 

Mr. Lincoln's Government had come into power, and had 
been in power for more than a month, without giving any 
indication of its policy. That Government had shown no 
friendly disposition towards or recognised the existence of any 
Union or loyal party Avithin the Confederate States. It had 
made no attempt to settle the matter by a conference and 
avoid war. It had used the most insidious means to provoke 
a, rupture, and in this it had succeeded. 

Whatever might be their sentiments, they could no longer 
remain passive. To submit to Lincoln's terms they could not, 
even if they were inclined. They were hopelessly in the power 
of the Confederate Government, which was strong, determined, 
and unscrupulous. 

If the secessionists fought and resisted Lincoln's proclama- 
tion, the Union party could not remain neutral, they would 
be coerced and pressed into service, and compelled to take 
part in the resistance, or they would be persecuted or banished, 
their goods and properties confiscated, and their homes 
desolated. They considered that the Federal Government 
by its weakness and inaction had placed them in this pre- 
dicament, and now the same Government, under a different 
leader, sought to chastise them for being in the position ihej 
were. 

They did not long hesitate, however. They had sought to 
be loyal but received no support. They had been cast off and 
abandoned, and they would not now submit to be whipped 
back into and under a Government which they considered 
had forfeited all claim to their respect or allegiance. 

The whole population within the Confederate States was 
now roused to a man, and the last vestige of Union sentiment 
was now cast off. Those who had hitherto been the most 
earnest in their desire to maintain the Union and preserve 
peace, were the first to take up arms. Nothing was now 
thought of but war, and resisting to the utmost the aggressive 
invasion threatened by Mr. Lincoln. Volunteer companies 



118 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

were raised in every community, armed and drilled with great 
perseverance. 

I must again observe that whatever may be said or has. 
been said on the abstract principles which led to this war, 
particularly where it has been set forth that the North was 
fighting to abolish slavery, and the South was fighting to- 
maintain it ; I must to such an assumption give an unquali- 
fied denial. Whatever may have been the question from 
which the quarrel originated, it had now been entirely departed 
from and lost sight of. 

Of the thousands who at this time rushed to arms, I believe 
very few had in their minds the question of slavery. Many 
had before them the question of " States' Rights " versus 
" Federal authority," but the greatest number were animated 
only by a determination to resist Lincoln's proclamation. 

I can also assert that when the Northerners took up arms 
in obedience to Lincoln's proclamation it was only to avenge 
the bombardment of Fort Sumter, put down the rebellion, and 
maintain the integrity of the Union. Anything like emanci- 
pation, or interfering in any way with the institution of 
slavery, was no part of the programme, and was most emphati- 
cally repudiated. The abolition of slavery which afterwards, 
followed, Avas altogether an after consequence of the war; and 
Mr. Lincoln's very questionable policy in issuing, in January, 
1863, a proclamation of emancipation, but extending emanci- 
pation only to the slaves in the States or parts of States in 
rebellion against the United States, was called forth more as a 
military necessity, and as a means of subduing the South, than 
from any philanthropic motive. This mil be shown in the 
course of events as they happened. 

I mention this because I think there has been altogether 
too much said about the North fighting to set free the slaves, 
and the South fighting to hold them in slavery. Such asser- 
tions were no doubt put forth by the Northern agencies to 
obtain the sympathy of the world, and restrain any European 
or foreign power from recognizing the Confederacy. It must 
be remembered that the North had free intercourse with all 
the world, and could put their side of the question to the 
world unchallenged ; wliile the South was blockaded and 
secluded from the world, and the real feeling and sentiment 
was never known except through limited and restricted 
channels. 



CHAPTER XIL 

INDIGNATION AT LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION EXTENDS TO OTHEE STATES — 
TEXAS JOINS THE CONEEDERACY— SECESSION OF VIRGINIA, NORTH CARO- 
LINA, TENNESSEE, AND ARKANSAS — LINCOLN'S MEASURES TO CHECK 
FURTHER SECESSION— PROCLAMATION OF THE BLOCKADE OF THE SOUTH- 
ERN PORTS — A NEW AND LARGER CONFEDERACY FORMED — A CALL FOE 
VOLUNTEERS — MY OWN POSITION — REASONS FOR TAKING UP ARMS — 
MEETING AND DECISION OF OUR VOLUNTEER COMPANY— PREPARATIONS 
AND FITTING OUT — DEPARTURE FOR NEW ORLEANS— MUSTERING INTO 
SERVICE. 

The storm of indignation which was aroused by Lincoln's 
proclamation was not confined to the six States now forming 
the Confederacy. It spread like wildfire throughout all the 
other Southern States. The sympathy which the Confederate 
States had lost by their rash act in bombarding Fort Sumter, 
was now recovered and increased tenfold. 

Texas, which up till now had been undecided, and had 
been more inclined to fall back on her former independence 
and " Lone Star Mag," at once joined the Confederacy. 
Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri sent a most peremptory 
refusal to furnish men to coerce sovereign States. And 
in a few days the exciting and joyful news was received 
in the Confederate States that Virginia had seceded from the 
Union. This was followed quickly by the news that North 
Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee, had also seceded, and that 
Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri were preparing to follow. 

It was now thought that Mr. Lincoln, seeing the serious 
state of matters, and the gigantic proportions the rebellion 
had assumed, would make an attempt at some conciliatory 
measures by proposing negotiation through some convention 
or meeting of commissioners appointed by North and South 
respectively, to come to some arrangement and avoid war, or 
perhaps have the matter referred to the decision of the 
supreme court of the United States. 

Whether, as has been supposed, Mr. Lincoln entertained 
such an idea but was overruled by Mr. Seward, I do not 
know. Certainly his position was now one of great difficulty. 



120 LIFE IX THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

It was too late to adopt the poKcy of letting the six 
rebellious States go in peace, and then proceed to amend the 
constitution. There were now 11 seceding States and three 
more preparing to follow. It was improbable that any 
proposal to negotiate would be accepted by the South, which 
by the sudden acquisition to its strength, had become more 
defiant and arrogant than ever, and would accept nothing but 
total severance from the Union. 

The first movement of the Federal Government was to 
station an army at Washington under pretence of protecting 
that city, and by extending a force along the Potomac cut off 
Maryland from the other Southern States, and so prevent 
that State from seceding. At the same time a large body of 
United States troops under General Lyon, was sent into 
Missouri. Thus by holding command of the Missouri river 
they cut off the northern part of that State, including the city 
of St. Louis, from joining with the South. 

Kentucky had in the meantime declared her intention to 
remain strictly neutral. 

Mr. Lincoln now issued another proclamation, declaring the 
Southern ports to be in a state of blockade, and at the same 
time placing a blockading force in the Mississippi at Cairo, 
where the Ohio river joins the Mississippi. This was calcu- 
lated to have a very paralyzing effect on the South, as it cut 
off all communication with the outer world, and stopped all 
additions being made to their supplies or resources. It was, 
however, to some extent gratifying to the Confederate leaders 
in so far as the act of blockading the seaports was concerned, 
as it would bring the Federal Government into conflict with 
foreign powers. It being considered a breach of international 
law for a nation to blockade its own ports, and that it can only 
as a belligerent blockade the ports of a foreign enemy, it seemed 
plain that if the Federal Government wished to avoid a con- 
flict with foreign powers it could no longer claim the South as 
an integral part of the United States, and must either with- 
draw the blockade, or recognize the South as a foreign power 
and an enemy. These views were paraded before the Southern 
people as a proof of Mr. Lincoln's incapacity. 

In the meantime the last seceded States had joined with the 
six States which had previously constituted the Confederacy, 
and a new and more powerful Confederacy was thus formed, 
consisting of the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 121 

'Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. The seat of Government 
was removed from Montgomerie, Alabama, to Richmond, 
Virginia ; Jefferson Davis and Stephens remaining respectively 
president and vice-president as before. 

The States of Maryland and Missouri being now kept by 
the Northern troops from joining the South, several collisions 
had taken place between the Northern soldiers and the popu- 
lace at Baltimore and other parts of Maryland, and in 
Missouri. 

The Confederate Government now gave notice to all parties 
who sympathised ^vith the North, to leave the Confederate 
States within 10 days, and all communication with the North 
was cut off, war was declared, and a call was made for volun- 
teers to serve the Confederate States for a period of one 
year. 

I must now return to my o^\"n personal position, as the time 
had now come when I could no longer remain passive. 

I had no sympathy with the secession movement, and had 
always been opposed to it. But matters had much changed 
since secession first took place, and I now certainly sympa- 
thised with the many who had at first been opposed to it, but 
afterwards became disgusted and indignant at the action, or 
rather inaction of the Federal Government, at the imbecility 
of Buchanan's Government, and tlie shuffling and deceitful 
policy of Lincoln's cabinet. 

Still I have no doubt, should there be any who may consider 
these pages worth reading, they will very justly question the 
consistency of my action in taking "act and part" in a move- 
ment in which I had so little interest, and a cause in which I 
had so little sympathy, and which I considered had at first 
been brought about by such corrupt and unfair means as I 
have attempted to describe, and that I, a disinterested for- 
eigner, and an alien without kith or kin in the whole Western 
world, should forsake peaceful pursuits and embroil myself in 
a war the consequences of which it was impossible to foresee, 
and on a side against which the chances Avere at least three 
to one. 

These questions I put to myself then, and have often put 
to myself since. 

Was it selfish policy ? Was it heartfelt sympathy ? Was 
it a sense of honour, or love of adventure ? 



122 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

I have no doubt that the very idea of such reflections from 
one of my sphere of life might cause a smile from many whose 
aspirations soar to a higher sphere of philosophy, but I merely 
mention them as they may tend to show how hundreds of 
others situated like myself were led away by the same 
impulse. 

I may say that each of these motives contributed more or 
less to my decision. 

First, Policy had its part in a business point of view. I 
had since I came to the community considerably improved my 
position. I had as a working man, and recently as a partner 
in a business, been kindly received and well patronized by 
the people of the place. My two senior partners were both 
foreign to the country (one English and one Scotch). Both 
were married men with families and domiciled in the place : 
and as the community from which we derived our support had 
now unanimously, and we sujDposed justifiably, gone in for 
the cause, and other firms composed of foreigners had lent 
it their aid, our firm would have seemed singularly plodding 
and selfish, and perhaps been regarded with suspicion had we 
held aloof and not contributed at least one man to the service. 

Second, Sympathy. I had been strongly opposed to secession, 
and I could scarcely denounce strongly enough the one-sided, 
unjust, and corrupt means by which the secession of the States 
was efiected; and, though my opinion on that point was still the 
same, I now shared with the large body of loyal, law-abiding 
and Union-loving people, in the disgust and contempt justly 
invoked against the Federal Government, both under the old 
and the new administrations, for the base and deceitful manner 
in which they had treated the loyal and law-abiding people in 
the South. For, to say the least of it, they had failed to 
afford them at the proper time that help and support which 
was within their power to give. They had in the most imbecile 
manner withdrawn or allowed to be driven from the South 
every vestige of their authority. They would not listen to 
any representation which might come from any loyal portion 
of the inhabitants of the South. They had not in the least 
way tried to check the action of the clique which had gone 
through the form of withdrawing the States from the Union, 
and declaring them independent. They had not shown the 
slightest indication that they would protect and support 
the law-abiding people of the South in maintaining the 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 123- 

constitution and the Union. The trifling and imbecility of 
Buchanan's Government, followed by the deceitful shuffling- 
of Lincoln's administration, could not but provoke the disgust 
and contempt of every law-respecting person in the South, 
who now seemed unanimously to come to the conclusion that 
a government which would not assert its authority by 
maintaining its laws and protecting its citizens from the 
dominance of unprincipled politicians was no longer entitled 
to respect or allegiance. In this I agreed with them. 

Third, Honour. I had been an active member of, and 
taken considerable interest in, the town volunteer company of 
riflemen ; and to have resigned and withdrawn from it in th& 
hour of danger would not have been very creditable to myself 
or gratifying to my countrymen in the place, who, I am proud 
to say, that, in whatever part of the world they may be, 
generally maintain their proud national feeling and veneration 
for the honour of old Scotland. 

Fourth, Love of adventure. Perhaps there was a little of 
that feeling as set forth by Sir Walter Scott — 

" That if the path's to danger known, 
The dangers self is lure alone." 

I therefore concluded to remain with the volunteer company 
of which I was a member to see what action they took. 

The volunteer company of which I was a member, as I 
have related at the seizure of the arsenal, showed disaffection 
and marched off the ground — had since that time continued as 
an " independent company " to maintain and increase their 
efficiency, and had been still more active in drilling and 
attaining proficiency and in preparing for any emergency. 

When Mr. Lincoln issued his war proclamation, a meeting 
of the company was held to consider the matter. The pro- 
clamation was read calling upon them to lay down their arms 
and submit unconditionally to his authority before the inva- 
sion of 75,000 men. 

There was also read and considered a call by the Confeder- 
ate Government for volunteers to serve for a period of one 
year in order to resist the invasion. 

The two propositions were before the volunteers, and they 
must accept the one or the other. 

They unanimously agreed to offer their services as volun- 
teers to the Confederate Government for the period of one 
year. 



124 LIFE IX THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

The offer was promptly accepted by the Confederate Govern- 
ment ; and this decision and prompt action of the company 
was received with gi-eat applause by the populace as the 
pioneer company fi'om the district which volunteered their 
services. And now commenced preparations in earnest for 
outfit and departui'e. The di'ess uniforms with tinsel and 
feathered hats were thrown aside, and fatigue or fighting 
uniforms and foraging caps substituted. To assist in the 
equipment and outfit handsome donations were fi-eely given, 
many of them by ladies, so that the company was able to 
volunteer for service fully armed and equipped, and requiring 
only to be supplied with camp equipage and ammunition. 

I may here say that as the matter has reference to a volmi- 
teer movement, and a power, or nation, going to war or 
preparing to resist invasion with an army composed entirely 
of volunteers (on this subject I will hereafter speak), nothing 
could exceed the a^-idity and enthusiasm with wliich the cause 
was taken up. Every other object and consideration was set 
aside, the whole thought and conversation was centred in the 
one subject. Every man, woman, and child seemed to vie 
with each other in their efforts to aid and support it. Aged 
men and women furnished donations in money according to 
theii' circumstances. Poor families set to work in prepar- 
ing shirts, underclothing, stockings, and other necessaries. 
Wealthy merchants and employers, whose employees and 
clerks would volunteer for service, made provision for their 
families or dependents by continuing their salaries during the 
time they volunteered for service. 

Mothers with tears in their eyes came up with theii' sons of 
15 and 16 years of age, who had been earned away T\-ith the 
enthusiasm, and requested that they might be accepted as 
volunteers, and handing them over to the care of the orderly 
sergeant, with no doubt many a sincere prayer in solitude for 
the di^-ine care and protection over theii' offspring. During 
the few days of preparation the strength of the company was 
augmented from 62 to 86, wliile other two companies recently 
formed had volunteered theii' services and were prepaiing to 
follow. 

As several members of the company were men with families, 
and many were connected with business, they had been busy 
for the last few days in making arrangements and pro^TJsion 
for their households during their absence. Aluch also had to 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 125 

l:>e done by those connected with business, such as straighten- 
ing up books, squaring accounts, signing powers of attorney, 
wills and testaments not being forgotten. 

On the morning of the 29th of April, 1861, the Baton Rouge 
Rifle Volunteer Company embarked on a steamer for New 
Orleans. As may be imagined there was a large crowd 
gathered to see them off, and a unanimous, and, I believe, 
sincere expression of a wish for their success, preservation, 
and happy and speedy return. There were many surmises as 
to their future fate. Some were still confident in their belief 
that there would be no war, that it was quite impossible that 
a civilized and highly enlightened country possessing so many 
wise and talented men of sterling integrity, should be dragged 
into a gigantic and bloody civil war, through the instrumen- 
tality of a few bloated politicians. As a proof of this confi- 
dence, I will relate a little incident : — 

As we were preparing to go on board the steamer, I said to 
one of my partners who was standing on the wharf with some 
other gentlemen of the place, that I was annoyed at the watch- 
maker who had been doing some repairs to my watch, and 
had not got it ready as he had promised, and I asked if he 
would get the watch when ready, and try and send it on to 
me as I could not well do without it. Upon this an old 
gentleman who was with him pulled out a handsome gold 
watch and handed it to me, saying, " Here, I will lend you 
mine." 

" Lend me yours ! " said I, " when on earth do you expect 
to see it again ? " 

" When you come back," said he, pressing the watch upon 
me, " and that will be in about four months. This thing," 
continued he, "will never be allowed to go on; there are 
plenty of sensible men both North and South to put a stop 
to this madness; Congress meets in July, and then means will 
be taken to put things right." 

" I wish they had done it sooner," said I, taking the watch 
and joining the company who were now forming to embark. 

I may say that some eighteen months afterwards, I had the 
pleasure of handing my friend back his watch, when he said he 
would value it the more for the services it had seen, and also 
as a reminder of events which had made him a wiser and a 
much sadder man. 

We were soon on board, and the steamer backed out into 



126 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

the middle of the stream amidst the deafening cheers of the 
crowds on the wharf and river bank, amongst whom there 
were no doubt many anxious hearts. 

As this company may be taken as a pretty fair sample of 
the material of which the Southern army was composed, I 
may give a slight description of its composition, as my position 
•afterwards in the company enables me to do with some exact- 
ness. 

Of the calling or occupation of the different members there 
were : planters, or sons of planters, 9 ; farmers, or sons of 
farmers, 1 1 ; merchants, or sons of merchants, 1 1 ; merchants' 
assistants, clerks, etc., 13; lawyer, 1; engineers, 4=; carpenters, 4 
painters, 3; compositors, 3; bricklayers, 2; ironmouliers, 2 
gasiitters, 2; sawmillers, 2; gunsmith, 1; tailor, 1; druggist, 1 
teacher, 1; carriage makers, 2; cabinetmaker, 1; law students, 2 
marble cutter, 1; miscellaneous, 8. 

The total number of the above who owned slaves, or were 
members of families who owned slaves, or were in any way 
connected with or interested in the institution of slavery was 
SI ; while the number of those who had no connection or 
interest whatever in the institution of slavery was 55. 

Of the nationalities of the above there were : natives of 
Louisiana or other Southern States, 47 ; Northern States, 1 3 ; 
Canada, 4 ; England, 2 ; Scotland, 4 ; Ireland, 5 ; Germany, 6 ; 
uncertain, 5. 

As we proceeded down the river it was evident that our 
presence on the steamer was well kno^vn. It being one of the 
regular line of steamers on the station, notice seemed to have 
been sent to the different places along the river where the 
vessel was to call. This was no doubt ^vith the view of show- 
ing a precedent and increasing the enthusiasm, and stirring 
up others to emulate us. Of course wherever the steamer 
called we were greeted with hearty cheers, and in any of the 
places where volunteer companies existed these turned out to 
salute us, and to announce that they would be ready to follow 
us in a few days. 

When night came on we were treated, though in a very 
slight degree, to one of the privations which we were to 
undergo as soldiers. Our meals had been furnished at table 
in the saloon with all the usual luxuriance for passengers on 
those fine steamers. But state rooms of course could not be 
furnished, therefore we must pass the night in soldier fashion 



THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 127 

by rolling ourselves in our blankets and lying down on the 
floor of the saloon. This was of course made the subject of 
many a laugh and joke, but it was evident before morning 
that some felt the deck a little hard, and not quite so comfort- 
able as the soft beds they had been accustomed to. Some 
were a little put out at the want of the usual convenience for 
their morning ablutions and toilet. But like Midshipman 
Easy, they were reminded that it was " all zeal." As we 
approached New Orleans, another company of volunteers 
was taken on board, and we arrived at the city about 
daybreak. 

The morning was wet and stormy, and very unusual weather 
for New Orleans at this season of the year, and it seemed to 
be in accord with the times. Several other steamers had 
arrived during the night with volunteer companies from other 
parts of the State, and we waited our turn to be mustered 
into service, which ceremony was to take place on the 
steamer. 

We did not require to wait long before Brigadier-General 
Tracy, who was in command of the troops in New Orleans, 
came on board. 

Brigadier-General Tracy was a veteran of the Mexican war. 
He was a little cross-looking man dressed in uniform, and 
wore a little red laced foraging cap. He had been busy 
mustering in volunteers all morning, and his voice was almost 
hoarse with calling out names amid the howling of the 
wind. 

He took the roll-book from the captain and cried out, " All 
you that volunteer for the Confederate service answer to your 
names." He then proceeded to call the roll, the men answer- 
ing to their names. He then closed the roll-book, and retained 
a copy of the muster-roll, and addressing the men said : " You 
are now mustered into the service of the Confederate States 
for a period of one year, unless sooner discharged, and subject 
to all the rules and regulations of war " — this last sentence 
being delivered with great emphasis. 

Our boys, as the members of the company were called and 
by which term I shall sometimes hereafter designate them 
when referring more to the younger members, did not at once 
realise the importance of this short ceremony, and had to be 
reminded that they were now under authority, and that they 
were no longer citizens but soldiers ; — that all questions 



128 LIFE IN THE CONFEDEEATE ARMY. 

pertaining to public matters and all political subjects and 
civil matters should now be set aside, and every attention 
given to studying and becoming proficient in their duties as 
soldiers, and that military matters alone should now engross 
their attention. 

Being now no longer a civilian but a soldier I ^vill finish up 
to this time the account of my observations of the political 
movements which led to the secession of the States and the 
outbreak of the war, and devote myself entirely to military 
matters. 



SECTION III. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY, 



CHAPTER XIII. 

PERSONAL NARRATIVE AS COMPARED WITH OFFICIAL REPORTS — REMARKS ON 
THE VOLUNTEER SYSTEM, 

To give a simple narrative of my experience in a war 
campaign may be supposed to be but a repetition of many 
similar narratives given by individuals of their personal 
experience, and though such narratives may be more the 
personal feeling and observation of the narrator than 
descriptive of the campaign, and may picture more the real 
than the ideal, still they are necessarily limited, and often of a 
very different nature, and may appear tame and commonplace 
compared with the carefully prepared reports and the more 
glowing accounts furnished by Special Correspondents at the 
time, and which may contribute in some degree to the 
material out of which history is afterwards composed. 

The individual soldier is swallowed up in the midst of the 
turmoil, and knows only what is going on around him ; his 
duties are confined to a certain place or post, and beyond that 
he is supposed to see or know nothing ; and he can only 
describe minutely and in detail the movements of a small part 
of the campaign. 

The correspondent is supposed to look down upon the whole 
from a distance, observing and describing each body of men as 
units collectively, and armies and detachments as they are 
moved about apparently with as much ease as men upon a 
chess-board. 

There was, however, in this war some exceptional circum- 
stances, which tended to favour the individual narrator more 
than the general reporter. 

In the first place, the armies on both sides were composed 
of citizen soldiers who, although having for the time resigned 
their freedom as citizens and submitted themselves as soldiers 
subject to all duties and obedience under the rules and regula- 
tions of war, nevertheless there was even among the rank and 
file a large number of highly-educated and intelligent men who 
took a lively interest in every movement, and through personal 



132 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

friendship with staff or field-officers generally knew all that 
was proper to be known of the plan of the campaign, and took 
opportunity of observing how every movement was carried 
out ; in short, men from business circles, whose intelligent and 
active minds required something more to exercise them than 
the simple duties of the soldier, and from want of having- 
anything else to occupy their attention, applied themselves to 
the study of the art of war. They generally knew anything 
that was open to be known of their own army, and often had 
a good knowledge of the whereabouts and strength of the 
enemy, and could understand and account for the different 
movements. 

The face of the country was a serious obstacle in the way of 
obtaining a bird's-eye view of the scene. This was also a 
serious impediment to generals in the way of observing the 
j)rogress of the action, and in directing the movements of their 
troops. Most of the fighting was done in rough and broken 
country, covered with forests or tall brushwood ; and although 
some eminence might be found from which an outline might 
be ascertained of the relative positions of the forces, still the 
movements of the men could not be seen, and could only be 
judged from the crackling of the musketry and the smoke 
rising from among the trees or brushwood, and the noise and 
smoke indicating the position of a battery of artillery. It 
was sometimes very difficult to distinguish friend from 
foe. 

I have heard it jocularly expressed in camp-fire criticisms, 
that the plan of a battle as given in the official report was 
sometimes formed after the battle was over to bring it in accord 
with the result, and that the accounts given by the special 
correspondents were but the breath of the general com- 
manding. 

As regards the first of these insinuations, I do not know 
whether there may be any just grounds for the assertion, but 
I think there were in this war often cases where the face of 
the country rendered it extremely difficult for any general to 
ascertain precisely the movements of the enemy's forces, or to 
have completely under his eye the movements of his o^vn 
troops. It is therefore inevitable that a good deal must be 
left to chance, and to the judgment of subordinate officers, 
and a good deal to the men themselves, who very often did 
good work independent of their officers. 



LIFE IX THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 133 

With regard to correspondents, in cases where no letter or 
communication was allowed to go outside the lines without 
being first read and approved by the provost-martial, the 
thing must speak for itself. 

One of my reasons for venturing upon a short sketch of my 
personal experience in this war is that it might be a little 
interesting to some on account of the material of which the 
armies were composed. It may be said to have been some- 
what different in this resjDect from other great wars. The 
annies of both Xorth and South, at the commencement and 
throughout the greater part of the war, were composed of 
volunteers, not altogether of raw undrilled recruits suddenly 
picked up for the occasion, but a large portion of them were 
of the numerous well-drilled and well-equipped volunteer 
companies which had been in existence and training for many 
years pre^dous to the outbreak of hostilities. 

The regular standing army of the United States consisted 
only of about 12,000 men. Some of them were stationed in 
forts, and those vv^ho took the field were soon lost sight of in 
the immense provisional armies that suddenly sprung up, and 
were never known after the first campaign, in which they were 
mostly all killed off". 

Perhaps I might plead my experience with volunteers in 
actual warfare as an excuse for expressing my opinion on the 
volunteer system. 

Those fastidious critics who speak disparagingly of volun- 
teers, and can see efficiency only in precise movements, or 
neatly performed evolutions on a smooth lawn or open park, 
might do well to consider how far these accomplishments are 
of practical use in the rough and ready movements required in 
actual warfare, or how far the parade movements can be car- 
ried out in a wild country, amongst hills and ra\T.nes, swamps, 
trees, brushwood, and other obstructions. 

Count Moltke is said to have spoken contemptuously of the 
armies of the American Ci^T-l War as being armed mobs, of 
which he knew notliing, and wished to have nothing to do 
with. 

Count Moltke is no doubt a great military scientist, but 
it must be remembered that military science, although a lead- 
ing essential in warfare, exists only so far as pre-arranged 
plans can be executed. And it may be questionable how far 
Count Moltke could have filled the place of Lee or Grant, or 



134 LIFE IN THE CONFEDEEATE ARMY. 

whether he could with his grande armee of levied troops have 
carried out with success a campaign planned upon his highest 
conception of military science, amidst the forests and swamps 
of America, in the face of even the smaller armies of rugged 
volunteers who fought in the American Civil War ; or whether 
he could ever have kept his army together for four years under 
the same trying circumstances as the American generals did, 
without finding out that one ounce of makeshift was worth 
many pounds of military science ; and that mutual willing- 
ness, enlightened zeal, and dogged determination, were better 
qualifications than forced training, be that training ever so 
precise and efficient. 

I believe, and I think it has been sufficiently proved, that 
there are no better troops in the world than the regular army 
of Great Britain. But what is the composition of that 
army 1 

The British soldier is in a certain sense of the word a volun- 
teer. He is not forced into the service, he enlists voluntarily, 
under no other compulsion than a taste for military life and 
a desire to be a soldier, and it is reasonable to suppose that 
such men will make the best soldiers. But such men are few 
in number, and the percentage to be got in a population is but 
small, while the remuneration to a private soldier is also small 
compared to what is obtainable in other pursuits. Therefore 
it cannot be supposed that a large army can be raised upon 
the enlistment system, at least an army sufficiently large to 
cope with the great masses brought into the field in modern 
warfare. 

As the system of popular government extends, the question 
may arise as to how such large armies are to be raised and 
maintained. 

In Great Britain the day is gone past when clans follow 
their chiefs to the field, and although the regular army under 
the voluntary-enlistment system maintains itself well and is 
good and efficient, still the army so raised is small in numbers, 
and could hardly be brought up by voluntary enlistment to a 
numerical strength sufficient to cope with the armies of the 
day. 

The empires of Europe, under their difierent systems of 
maintaining their armies, can still enforce their le^des, but the 
question arises, How long may they be able to do so ? 

As popular governments extend, men may become too 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 135 

cunning to serve compulsorily as soldiers, or be subject at any 
moment to be called out to shed their blood to gratify the 
whim or ambition of a despotic ruler, and they may rebel 
against such a system. 

Imagine the Czar of Russia who can now keep all Europe 
on the constant qui vive. His power rests entirely upon the 
obedience of the masses to his sovereign will. Suppose he 
should suddenly find his subjects acting upon their rights as 
men in other nations, and would no longer respond to his call, 
what a weak power his would become ! 

The immense levies brought into the field under the service 
system of the great European powers must be composed 
largely of men who have neither taste nor desire to serve as 
soldiers, but having no other alternative must obey the 
sovereign edict. Though for form's sake making a pretended 
show of enthusiasm, still they are in reality driven like sheep 
to the slaughter, and unless through a semi-barbarous ignorance 
they can be fired with some fanatic idea, there can be no great 
dependence placed in them. A victory obtained over an 
enemy may inspire them with temporary enthusiasm, but 
their mind is not with their duty, and the thought of most of 
them is how they can get clear of the service. I have much 
satisfaction in the belief that a chief part of the strength of 
Great Britian and America lies in their volunteers, and although 
the system is yet but in its infancy it seems destined to 
become the strong arm of all civilised nations, not only 
against foreign aggression but against despotism or anarchy 
at home. 

Volunteers are not composed of the residuum of society, but 
rather of the elite, or of that part which may have a taste or 
liking for the precision which regulates the duties and habits 
of the soldier — men who take a pride in undergoing the 
training, and who would be ready to take up arms to serve or 
defend their country in case of need, but who would not in 
peaceful times abandon other pursuits and resign their freedom 
by enlisting for permanent service. It is natural to suppose 
that such men make the best soldiers, and from this class 
powerful armies of volunteers might be raised as provisional 
armies for any emergency. They might not attain that clock- 
work precision which looks so well on parade, but which is 
quite unnecessary in actual warfare, but they could be made 
thoroughly efficient for every practical purpose. 



136 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

In the volunteer is the material for the soldier. Their zeal 
prompts them to study and learn the tactics of the field. 
Their intelligence gives them a sense of duty, and they know- 
that strict obedience is indispensable, and that obedience to 
command is not servility. 

They come to know how to handle their arms. They are 
well drilled in the Manual, and in the evolutions of the com- 
pany and the battalion, and can perform them quickly without 
confusion, and a few months or even weeks of active service 
will make volunteers the best of soldiers. Volunteers come to 
have a pride also in their corps. It takes its name from their 
place of residence. The honour of their corps is identified 
with the honour of their homes in town or country. From 
this cause, should they sustain a defeat or a reverse, they burn 
until they get a chance to retrieve their lost honour. 

I do not for a moment mean to say that constant drill, 
strict training, and the attainment of precise movements and 
neatly performed evolutions are of no value. I consider them 
of great value, and particularly in a standing army, as being 
conducive to the health and physique of the soldier, as well as 
inspiring him with a military taste and pride in his profession, 
while the nature of the exercise fits him for more arduous 
duties. To say nothing of the moral efiect drill may have on 
promoting general habits of smartness and self-respect and 
sense of duty, to men w^ho have no other business or occupa- 
tion drill becomes indispensable. 

Care should be taken, however, that the soldier should 
understand that very strict precision is not a sine qua non in 
actual warfare, and that although in a severe struggle, or in a 
rough country or difficult position soldiers may lose their places, 
or their company get mixed in the battalion, or the battalion in 
the brigade, they are not to consider themselves demoralised or 
out of command. I have seen a brigade as completely mixed up 
as if showered from the clouds, and still preserve a line, repel 
cavalry, and hold their position. My opinion may be of little 
value, but I think volunteers are destined to be the army of 
the future. The system is based upon the principle of giving 
efiect to the military spirit of the land, and in training for 
military service, at a trifling cost, the best men to be found for 
soldiers, without compromising their liberty or interfering 
with their regular avocations as citizens. A powerful army 
may thus be kept up at little or no expense, composed of men 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 137 

of good moral standing who possess a taste for the use of 
arms, and who could, in a case of emergency, be made a 
strong defence of the nation, and thus dispensing with 
the necessity of forcing into service against their will men 
who have neither the spirit nor the inclination to act as 
soldiers. 

To such men as possess a desire to become volunteers, this 
narrative of my experience may be a little entertaining if not 
instructive. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

VOLUNTEERS IN ACTUAL SERVICE— DUTIES OF AN ORDERLY SERGEANT- 
DISQUALIFICATIONS OF AN ALIEN— CAMP WALKER— FIRST TASTES OF CAMP 
LIFE — ROUGHING IT — CAMP DUTIES AND REGULATIONS — MIXTURE OF 
SOCIETY — ZEAL AND PROGRESS IN TRAINING — INCIDENTS — ORGANISATION 
OF THE THIRD LOUISIANA REGIMENT— MARCHING ORDERS. 

Having now been mustered into the service, and having 
become a part of the army of the Confederate States, a copy 
of the army regulations was handed to us, and we were ordered 
to Camp Walker, the camp of instruction. 

Our baggage, which consisted of a company mess chest and 
some boxes of company property, was sent ashore, and it was 
arranged that we should remain for a few hours in the city to 
give time for camp equipage being sent to Camp Walker for 
the different companies which had that morning arrived. 

The company was then formed, and we landed from the 
steamer to march to the City Hotel, where we were to wait 
until things were ready for us. As we proceeded towards the 
hotel, one was reminded of Scott's picture of Edinburgh before 
Flodden, for — 

" As through the bustling streets we go, 
All was alive with martial show." 

On every side all was preparation for war. On the day 
previous the first regiment from Louisiana had departed north- 
wards to join the army of Virginia, and a second was being 
organised and preparing to follow. All commercial business 
was suspended. The extensive wharfs along the river which 
were wont to be crowded with vessels discharging cargo or 
loading with cotton were deserted. The ships had all cleared 
out in consequence of the " notice of blockade." 

The extensive cotton presses fronting the wharfs were all 
silent and shut up, and nothing seemed in motion but the 
preparations for war. The streets resounded with the sound 
of the fife and the drum as different volunteer companies pro- 
ceeded to the camp of instruction. Carts and waggons moved 
hither and thither laden with army stores. Newly erected or 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 139= 

extended factories were busily manufacturing gun carriages, 
caissons, and tumbrils, and converting cotton waggons and 
drags into army waggons. 

The constant rattle of steam-driven sewing machines from 
many buildings announced the extensive manufacture of sad- 
dlery equipments, tents, and army clothing, while officers and 
men in plain uniforms and thoughtful countenances — many of 
them accompanied by their wives — were seen going in and 
out of shops purchasing a few articles to take with them 
which they supposed would conduce to their health and com- 
fort during their life in camp. Some officers were to be seen 
of the more dandified type, in gaudy uniforms and gay expres- 
sions in their countenance. These were of the zealous and 
gallant fire-eating class, who had got appointments in the 
different departments, and were more generally seen in the 
cities kissing their hands to ladies, than in the camp or field 
ditching a tent, or digging a rifle pit. 

Having marched from the wharfs and through several 
streets we arrived at the City Hotel, where a sumptuous 
breakfast was prepared for us, and a large room, or hall, 
provided for our accommodation until ready to proceed to 
camp. 

While here it was thought expedient before going into 
camp to have the company fully organised. 

The standard complement of officers and non-commissioned 
officers for a company of infantry was : one captain, two lieu- 
tenants, one orderly-sergeant, four duty-sergeants, and four 
corporals. It had always been the rule among volunteer com- 
panies for the members of the company to elect their officers. 
But now by the " army regulations " it was pointed out, that 
although the members of the company might still elect their 
officers, yet no appointment would be confirmed unless the 
candidate passed an examination, and was found duly quali- 
fied and approved of by the brigade commander. This, how- 
ever, did not apply to officers who held their appointments 
before the company was mustered into service. 

It so happened that our orderly sergeant was the son of the 
captain, and as the latter carried on an extensive business, it 
was necessary that he should remain at home to attend to the 
business ; he therefore had not volunteered, but he had con- 
tinued to act, and had accompanied the company thus far, but 
was now about to take his leave and return home. The office 



140 LIFE IX THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

of orderly-sergeant was therefore vacant. In the American 
service this is rather an onerous position in the company, and 
I who was then third-duty-sergeant was selected for the 
post, and was examined for competency before a board of 
officers. I passed satisfactorily, but in the course of the 
examination it came out that I was an alien, and not a 
citizen. This was against me, but after some consultation it 
was considered that as the office was not commissioned I 
might pass, and the appointment was approved. I was, how- 
ever, given to understand that T could attain no higher posi- 
tion, and could not hold a commission until I became a citizen ; 
and they advised me to get the preliminaries done at once, as 
it would take some time to consummate it, unless a special 
dispensation of the rules was granted. 

They then handed me a copy of the "army regulations " for 
my guidance as orderly-sergeant, and specially directed my 
attention to a clause which read thus : " No foreigner shall 
hold any office under the United States Government, either 
by commission or otherwise, unless he be a citizen of the 
United States;" the same regulations being adapted for the 
Confederate States, with the simple alteration of the word 
" United " being obliterated, and the word " Confederate " 
substituted. 

I had already determined that I would never forswear or 
renounce my allegiance to Queen Victoria, to become a citizen 
or subject of any foreign power, nor would a commission in 
the Confederate service now tempt me. I had volunteered my 
services for one year, and that T would fulfil as far as lay 
in my power. I will now give a slight description of the 
duties of an orderly-sergeant as it was in the United States 
service at that time. 

He held the rank of sergeant-major, his pay was equal to 
one-and-a-half that of the first duty-sergeant. He was the 
general executive officer of the company. He was secretary 
of the company, and was allowed a clerk. He went on no 
special detachments, or guard duty, except in cases of emer- 
gency. He kept the roll-book, and all other books, papers or 
accounts of the company. He was accountable for the men 
present or absent. He returned every morning to the adju- 
tant a report of the state and efiective force of his company. 

He made out all requisitions for rations, ammunition, arms, 
or camp equipage, and all other requirements. He had charge 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 141 

of all the company property, and reported on its condition. 
He inspected the tents and company camp ground, and 
saw that it was properly formed and ditched, and inspected 
the sanitary arrangements. His signature must be the first, 
and followed by that of the captain, on all company requisi- 
tions and reports. He called the roll at reveille, and noted 
absentees and delinquents, punished for slight offences, and 
reported more serious offences. He gave certificates to men 
who wished to apply for leave of absence. He detailed all 
men for guard, and detachments for special service, and 
appointed police guards for the day. He reported the sick to 
the surgeon, and saw them attended to. He marched up to 
the colour line, and handed over to the adjutant all details 
for special service and guard duty. He drilled all squads, and 
the company in absence of the commissioned officers. He took 
his place on the right of the company, and acted as guide. He 
went to the front and centre at parade and heard the orders 
read. When in front of the enemy, he was generally informed 
privately of the programme, and of the movements to be made. 
While the duty sergeants were designated by their respective 
names as Sergeant T. or Sergeant H., he was designated as 
tJie Sergeant, and was regarded as the ruling power of the com- 
pany when on active service. With all these duties to perform, 
it may be imagined that I had sufficient to keep me from 
repining. 

Our boys, who had been allowed a few hours to stroll about 
the city, had been ordered to report back at two o'clock, and the 
greater part of them reported at that hour ; in fact all of them 
except one or two who came up shortly afterwards, and we 
prepared to march out to tlie camp, which was about two 
miles out of the city. 

Camp Walker, which had formerly been the racecourse of 
New Orleans, was situated on what was considered the highest 
level of the land in the neighbourhood of New Orleans, 
although it was very difficult to observe any difference from 
the dead level of the surrounding country, the very highest 
part of which was only a few feet above the level of the sea. 
The place was of an oval shape, and about a mile and a-half in 
circumference, and enclosed by a close-boarded wall about 12 
feet high, with several gates and doors for admission. About 40 
feet inside of this wall was the course, which was lined on each 
side by a low but strong wooden paling. The location might be 



142 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

deemed to be anything but healthy, surrounded by swamps 
teeming with rank vegetation, through which were deep ditches 
filled with the drainage from New Orleans, as it moved 
sluggishly towards Lake Pontchartrain. Within the enclosure 
the ground had been cleared of the rank grass, but the soil 
was soft and marshy, and, rendered more so by the heavy rain 
which still continued to fall and by the carting in of supplies, 
was stirred into a soft, tenacious, black mud. 

Here were stationed some 3,000 men under canvas. One 
regiment had been organised and sent ofi", another was organ- 
ised and prepared to leave, and fresh companies were pouring 
in daily. 

Our company marched in through one of the gates at which 
there was a strong guard stationed, and through which no 
one could pass out again %vithout a pass or countersign. 

We were then joined by a quarter-master-sergeant, who 
conducted us to the spot which was to be our company camp 
ground. 

It was not inviting. A black soft soil with mud and pools 
of water here and there. The plan of the camp was roughly 
laid out. The rights of companies were to rest on the inner 
side of the course, the left to extend towards the centre of the 
vacant ground inclosed by the course; the officers' quarters 
on the opposite or outside of the course, where were also the 
stafi'-quarter-master's and commissary departments. Every- 
thing had been got up hurriedly. 

The company here stacked arms, and a look was cast from 
one to another as much as to say. How do you like it? 
Nothing was said for a little, but it was e^ddent from the 
faces of many that they did not relish the prospect. Fortu- 
nately there are always some spirits who can turn the blackest 
side of things into a laugh, and our company was favoured 
with a fair share of such. After a short silence a loud laugh 
broke from several of the boys. 

" Well, boys, how do you like it?" 

" What do you think of it now ? " 

" Well, D., is your zeal beginning to flag?" 

" T., are you beginning to ^vish you were home again?" 

" This is the first of soldiering." 

" But here comes the waggon with the tents, and, oh my, 
we are going to have carpets." 

This last observation was in reference to a load of boards 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 143 

which was thrown down to lay on the floor of the tents to 
keep the men off the wet ground. The tents were now being 
delivered, and the object of the boys was to get as many as 
possible for the company, and as orderly sergeant I was called 
upon by the past quarter-master to make out a requisition, 
signed by myself and the captain, for all tents and camp 
equipage required and received, which, by the army regula- 
tions, should be done before anything is deHvered. 

I had to remind him that I had neither material nor conve- 
nience to write, which elicited the rule that the orderly 
sergeant is entitled to a tent for himself which he is supposed 
to use as the office of the company and store for the company 
property. This procured for me a fine large marquee-tent, 
and as most of the other tents were not of a uniform size, the 
number of men to each tent could not be strictly regulated, 
so the company contrived to get a pretty fair supply of tents, 
including one for the cooking department. The men having 
already formed themselves into messes, the lines were marked 
off and the tents pitched, some of the men who were already 
drilled in the pitcliing of tents instructing the others. 

In the meantime I had been to the quarter-master's depart- 
ment and obtained the necessary forms for requisitions, which 
I filled up for camp equipments : 20 tents, 86 bed-sacks, 
10 camp kettles, 22 mess-pans, 12 water-pails, two picks, 
four spades, three axes, one saw. Many other requisites the 
company provided out of their own funds. As was afterwards 
experienced, the question was not so much the obtaining of the 
articles, as the difficulty of getting them carried along owing 
to the hmited means of transport. 

These articles being obtained, ditches were cut round the 
tents as far as possible to lead away the water, while boards 
w^ere cut up and laid on the ground inside of the tents where 
the bed-sacks were to be laid. A load of hay was brought 
up — it could not have been very dry owing to the weather ; 
but the bed-sacks were filled with it and put into the 
tents, also the arms and knapsacks. The rain stiU continuing, 
it was evident that the first night in camp was likely to be 
rather cheerless. 

Hunger beginning to be felt, the next question was the 
prospect of getting anything to eat. If rations were issued 
where were the means of cooking 1 Some mess-pans were 
there, but w^iere was the fuel to make a fire, or would a fire 



144 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

burn on the wet, muddy ground under the drenching 
rain ? 

Such were the questions asked by some. Others would 
answer by crying out, You will learn how to shift before six 
months are past (and this was verified). 

The next cry was water— 

" Water, water, everywhere, 
But not a drop to drink. " 

This created more laughter and joking, and it was astonish- 
ing to see how joking and banter kept away despondency. 
Some were soon over among the other companies finding out 
how they got on, where they discovered that carts were con- 
stantly going, supplying the camp with water and wood for 
fuel. Therefore, to keep a look-out for these carts was the 
next object. Soon a cart was turned into the camp with a load 
of firewood, and not long after another cart with a puncheon 
of water was espied and captured, and forced into the company 
parade ground against the protestations of the driver, who had 
designed it for some other company. As no rations were to be 
served out that night, a barrel of biscuits was sent, opened and 
placed in the kitchen tent, which the men might eat at will. 
All this passed off with considerable good humour as something 
of an adventure. 

But the great grievance of the service was now reahsed. 
The greater part of the men, not yet quite relishing for dinner 
and supper a hard biscuit and a cup of Mississippi water, 
thought that now their camp was pitched and the duties of 
the day over, and being wet with the rain, they would take a 
walk into town, and, having plenty of money, they would be 
able to get a hot meal at a restaurant, but they were much 
taken aback when they learned that they could not pass out of 
the camp without a written pass during the day, or at night 
without the countersign, which was only given to commissioned 
officers. This seemed to be the greatest grievance of the 
service, and caused a great deal of grumbling, and many a 
device was adopted to get round it. It was a proper and a most 
indispensable regulation, but, like many other regulations, it 
was often oppressive upon the law-abiding portion, while the 
more lawless, on account of whom it was imposed, generally 
found some plan to evade it. It was less oppressive so far 
that a pass was seldom refused to a well-behaved man if no 
duties intervened, and there was no danger or outside cause to 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 145 

make it imprudent to allow men to go out of the camp at 
any time, however, but a limited number could get at a time. 
On this particular occasion all wanted to go, and the diffi- 
culty was to select who should be favoured without showing 
partiality. As it was given them to understand that leave of 
absence would go by rotation, many postponed their application 
to another time, on the understanding that as no sutler was 
yet in the camp, a few men would be detailed to go to the city 
and return immediately, and would purchase for the company 
what articles they might want to furnish a repast, including 
ground coffee, sugar, soft bread, boiled ham, some candles, and 
a suggestion was made to add four bottles of whisky, which 
was allowed. The men were detailed and sent off with injunc- 
tions to return quickly, and some got leave of absence. 

It was now getting dark, the rain had ceased, wood was 
split up and a large camp-fire lighted, and two camp-kettles filled 
with water and set on to boil. In the meantime, staff officers 
had come round to inquire the strength of the company and 
give the usual orders. The commissioned officers having gone 
to the city, a copy of the " camp regulations " was handed to 
me, and another posted up at the officers' tent. 

A sergeant-major shortly afterwards came round, and made 
a requisition for men for guard on the following day, one 
sergeant, one corporal, and six privates. I also received a 
form of " morning report " to be filled up every morning, and 
delivered to the camp adjutant, showing the full state and 
strength of the company — "present for duty," "absent," 
" sick," or on " detached service." 

The men soon returned from the city with the provisions. 
The water in the camp-kettles was boiling, plenty of ground 
coffee is tumbled into it, and we have two large camp-kettles 
of coffee; spoons and tin-cups are got from the mess-chest, and 
we enjoy a good supper of hot coffee, bread, biscuit, and ham. 
The commissioned officers, who had now returned from the city^ 
came and joined us. The bottles of whisky were opened, and 
each man had a dram, after which we were much revived ; 
more fires were kindled, and round them we stood and dried 
our wet clothes, smoked and chatted, and were even happy on 
the muddy ground round the camp fires. 

At nine o'clock the " tattoo " sounded, the company was 
formed, and the roll called. All answered to their names 
except those absent on leave. As lights must now be put out^ 

K 



146 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

the men crawled into their tents, and stretched themselves on 
their damp hay pallets, with a thin board between them 
and the wet, muddy ground, each observing that they thought 
the carpeted floor of the steamer on the previous night to be 
hard, but it was a luxury compared to this. Laughing, joking, 
and chaffing each other, -however, kept them in good humour. 

Having with the commissioned officers walked along the 
rows of tents and seen that all lights were out, although we 
could hear plenty of laughing and noise within, we went to 
the right of the company where my tent stood. 

" W.," said the captain, " I see you have got candles ; that 
is a thing that I forgot to get to-day, and the orderly sergeant 
is allowed a light in his tent after tattoo. Have you anything 
to sit upon ? " 

" Yes," said I, " plenty of boxes with the company property. 
Come in." 

I lighted a candle and stuck it into the neck of one of the 
whisky bottles, and placed it on a box, and we all found seats, 
and cigars were lighted. 

The captain was a man about 50 years of age. He had 
long been captain of the company, and took some care over 
the younger members, many of whom, as will be seen, were 
mere lads. He was a Northern man by birth, but had been 
nearly 30 years in Baton Rouge, where he carried on an 
extensive business. The first lieutenant might be about 
32 years of age. He was a native of Kentucky, an 
engineer by profession, but had devoted much of his study to 
military matters, had been long an officer of volunteers, was 
an excellent drill officer, and was well versed in military 
matters. 

The second lieutenant was about 28 years of age. 
He was a native of Scotland, but had come to the United 
States when a boy. His father had been a sergeant of artil- 
lery, and had long held a post in the garrison at Baton 
Rouge. 

" I think," said the captain, " the boys must have got a 
sickener to-day, but I am glad to see that they still keep up 
their spirits." 

" I am glad," said I, " that they got it at the first start, 
when they are full of enthusiasm, as it will show them what 
they have to undergo, and what follows will come easier upon 
them." 



LIFE IX THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 147 

" All will be easier in the way of camping at all events," 
said the first lieutenant, " for I do not think it possible that 
they can ever be in a worse place for camping, and I wonder 
why a better place could not have been selected for a camp 
than this soft swamp." 

"There is no better place in the neighbourhood of New 
Orleans," said the captain, " all is low flats for miles and miles 
around, the nearest high and dry land is at Baton Rouge." 

" Why could they not have made the camp of instruction 
there?" said the second lieutenant, "there are lots of fine high 
and dry land w^ith fine shady trees, besides the beautiful 
garrison grounds." 

" Oh ! you want to be near home, John," said the captain 
laughing. " It would no doubt be a better place for a camp, 
but this is the centre and head-quarters, but I do not think we 
will remain long here." 

"How long do you think we will remain here. Captain?" 
said the second lieutenant. 

" Oh, I do not know," said the captain, " but I hope not 
long ; that ^ill depend upon our efficiency. I was talking with 
the adjutant-general to-day, the second regiment is made up, 
and leaves to-morrow or next day, and we are entered for 
third, but there are about 26 companies on the list for it, and 
the 10 most efficient will be selected." 

" Then I am not afraid," said the first lieutenant, " for I 
don't think there is a company in the State can beat us, except 
perhaps some companies of the Washington artillery." 

" I don't think," said the captain, "that there are any of the 
Washingtons on the list for the third regiment. A good 
many of them are gone already, but some of these companies 
from Red river are very good, and some of them are on the 
list. And there are some of our boys who last joined are still 
behind, so. Sergeant, you must try your best to get them 
drilled up to the mark." 

" Where is the second regiment going to ? " said the second 
lieutenant. 

" Oh, they don't know themselves," said the captain, " and 
that we won't know when we go ; we will be put on railway or 
steamer with sealed orders to be opened at a certain place, 
and then it will be to report to General So-and-So." 

" What light is that ? " said a voice at the door of the tent. 

" Officers' tent," answered the captain. 



148 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

" 'Tis in the wrong place, then," said the patrol officer. " It 
should be on the other side of the colour line." 

" 'Tis the orderly-sergeant's tent," said I ; " officers in it on 
business." 

" All right," said the patrol officer, and passed on. 

" You were wrong, there, Captain," said the first lieutenant. 

" Yes," said the captain, " that is true. I have not seen 
any camp regulations." 

" I have got a copy of them," said I, " and there is another 
pinned to the door of your tent. There were none of you there 
when the quarter-master sergeant came round." 

" I did not observe them," said the captain. " What are 
they ? Can you read them ? " 

I produced them and read — 

" Regulations— Camp Walker. 

" The reveille will be sounded at 5 a.m., and all beds shall 
be folded up and tents aired immediately after roll-call. 

" The breakfast call shall be at 6 A.M., which shall be the 
hour for breakfast. 

" The sick call shall be at 7 a.m., when all sick shall be 
reported to the surgeon. 

" Company parade grounds shall then be inspected, and put 
in proper order. 

" The call for guard mounting shall be at half-past seven, a.m., 
when the relieving guard shall assemble on the colour line, 
and guard mounting shall be at 8 a.m. 

" Squad drill shall commence at half-past eight a.m., and 
company drill at half -past nine A.M. 

" Twelve o'clock shall be the hour for dinner. 

" Battalion drill shall be ordered at 4 p.m., and dress parade 
at 5 P.M. 

"The tattoo shall be at 9 p.m., and lights out at half-past 
nine p.m. 

" By order of Brig. Gen. Tracy." 

" That is all plain enough," said the captain. 

" There is one thing plain enough," said the second lieuten- 
ant, slapping the back of one hand with the other, and slapping 
his forehead, " that we are going to be eaten up with these 
cursed mosquitoes (the smoking having stopped they were in 
the tent in thousands), they will be very bad, and I don't 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 149 

see how we are going to stand them, we will get no sleep 
at all." 

" We must just get bars," said the captain, " I see they have 
got them in most of the other tents." 
" What kind are they ? " 

" Oh, you will get them of all kinds, some big enough to fill 
the whole tent, and may be suspended from the ridge poll. 
There are others for one person about 18 inches broad, 
with a stick across each end to keep them stretched out. You 
tie a string to the centre of the stick, and suspend them from 
two sticks stuck into the ground, these are very cheap, and I 
believe that by taking a number they could be got for less 
than half a dollar each." 

" Then let us get some of them by all means," said I, " as I 
expect to-morrow morning there will be some fine complaints 
about the ' cussed varmints ! ' " 

" Then," said the captain, " to-morrow you had better get a 
list of all the men that want them, and just go into town and 
get them. You better see to that, Lieutenant J., as I expect 
the sergeant will have enough to do about the camp to-morrow." 
And the officers left to go to their own tent. 

Having laid two boards across some boxes, I laid my hay 
pallet on them, using as a pillow a box of ammunition which 
we had brought with us. (Our rifles being different from the 
smooth bore muskets then in use, we carried our own cartridges 
with us.) Having laid my coat on this I lay down, and, 
being well fatigued, would soon have been asleep, but the 
light burning in the tent had attracted the mosquitoes, 
and the tent had become a perfect hive of them. I tried 
to drive them out with my coat, but to no purpose. I 
tried again and again to sleep, but they swarmed in myriads 
on my face and hands, and even stung me through my cloth- 
ing. At last I thought of the cartridges, and lighting the 
candle I unscrewed the lid of the box, and taking out two or 
three, I screwed on the lid again. Taking the powder of two 
of the cartridges, I laid it on a piece of paper on the floor in 
the centre of the tent, and taking a ramrod, tied a piece of 
paper to the end of it, and lighting the paper at the candle, I 
stood at the door of the tent and stretched out and touched 
ofi" the powder. There was a soft explosion which flamed 
through and shook the whole tent, and put out the light in 
my hand, and left the tent full of smoke. I feared the guard 



150 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

would have been down upon me, as the smoke was rising from 
the tent. They did not, however, seem to have observed it. 
When the smoke subsided a little, I went in and lit the 
candle, saw there was no damage done, and not a mosquito to 
be seen or heard. 

I blew out the candle and lay down, thinking that I had 
made a discovery for the destruction of mosquitoes worth a 
patent, and was considering whether I should not go and see 
how my poor comrades were faring, and give them the benefit 
of my discovery, when I dropped asleep, and seemed to be 
immediately afterwards awakened by the reveille- 

It was just grey daylight, I had slept soundly and was much 
refreshed, the mosquitoes had not returned, but the tent had 
still the smell of the powder. I jumped up, loosened and shook 
well my clothes, put on my boots and coat, and, stepping out 
on to the parade ground, called out the order to " fall in." 
The men began to emerge from their tents, and form on the 
company parade ground. When the music ceased, I gave the 
order, "Attention to roll-call." When the roll was called, the 
names of those who were to go on guard were called, also 
those who were to be the "police guard" for the day. Ranks 
were then broken, and the men set to washing their faces ; 
many of them had been fearfully bitten by the mosquitoes, 
some declaring that they had never closed an eye. Some were 
laughing at their comrades being marked, not knowing that 
they were as badly marked themselves. 

The beds were rolled up, and the sides of the tents turned 
up, while swarms of mosquitoes issued from the tents. The 
rain seemed to be all over, and as it was the 1st of May, there 
was every probability of it being fine weather now for a while. 
The cooking utensils were divided among the different messes, 
and a corporal and two men of the police guard were sent with 
a requisition to draw rations at the commissary store. Fires 
were lit, and some rough boards knocked together to form 
tables. 

It was astonishing how quickly the boys learnt to forage 
and make shift ; some had already managed to procure frying- 
pans and other extras. The men returned from the commissary 
stores with part of the rations, having had their first quarrel 
with that curse of all armies, the commissary. 

Some bacon was fried and coffee made, and a rough, but 
well-relished, breakfast was got through. The men were now 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 151 

ordered to attend to the first duties of the soldier, and see that 
their arms and accoutrements were in good order, as they must 
have suffered from the wet on the previous day ; and there was 
guard duty, squad and company drill, at all of which arms 
would be inspected. By this time the men who had got leave 
of absence on the previous evening returned. They had leave 
to be out all night, but to report in the morning before 
"guard mounting." It was rather an extended leave of 
absence to be away all night, but in this case it was excep- 
tional, it being the first night in camp, and want of due 
provision for them. Those who had spent the night in camp 
were facetiously claiming seniority over them, as having 
passed one night in the "tented field," and received their first 
scars, pointing to the mosquito marks on their faces. 

It might, however, have been better for the peace of mind 
of one of them at least who went out on leave had he remained 
in camp that night, but of this I will speak hereafter. 

At seven o'clock the sick-call sounded, but as yet we had no 
sick to report. 

At half -past seven o'clock came the call for guard mounting. 
" Fall in guard " was now the order, and the men detached 
for guard assembled on the company parade ground. Having 
inspected them, I marched them up to the colour line and 
handed them over, with a list of their names, to the sergeant- 
major, who, seeing that the full number from each company 
was there, handed them over to the adjutant, who inspects 
them and hands them over to the " lieutenant of the guard " 
in presence of the " officer of the day." 

Guard-mounting over, I make out my morning report and 
hand it in to the adjutant. I then take out the young recruits 
for squad drill for about an hour, and then assemble the com- 
pany for company drill. 

Knowing that there is much to be done in camp to-day the 
company drill is cut short, and they return to camp about 
half-past ten o'clock. The weather is now beautiful, the sun 
is strong, with a light breeze, and the ground is drying fast. 
Tents are ordered to be struck, boards taken up to allow the 
ground to dry, bed-sacks are opened and the damp hay turned 
out to dry, and blankets and all other articles of clothing are 
turned out to dry. Ditches round tents afe dug deeper, and 
the soil thrown upon the site of the tents and trodden smooth 
so as to raise the floors a little above the level of the surround- 



152 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

ing ground. This plan of striking the tents and exposing the 
site to dry was done often in good weather, and greatly 
improved the sanitary condition of the camp. 

All the men wishing to purchase mosquito bars are desired 
to give their names to the second lieutenant, who goes to the 
city with some men of the police guard to purchase and bring 
out certain articles, and everyone is ordered to make arrange- 
ments as he best can for his personal comfort. 

After dinner a sergeant-major came round with orders. No 
battalion drill to-day, but dress parade at ^ p.m. in front of 
the " Grand Stand." 

There was now an hour or two of leisure, which the men 
employed as they pleased, and the mosquito bars and other 
articles having come they were distributed and got ready for 
use. I got a rough writing-table knocked together and a bench 
long enough to serve for both a seat and bed along one side of 
my tent. 

At 5 P.M. the call was sounded for " dress parade." This of 
course could not be a regimental parade, as we had not yet 
been organised into any regiment, but merely a few companies 
got together to form a temporary battalion for the purpose of 
battalion drill. 

As our company had had but little experience in training 
beyond the school of the company, manoeuvring in a battalion 
would be comparatively new to us and we knew the experience 
of the other companies would be still less ; we therefore 
expected to see a little confusion ; however, it was only a dress 
parade, and if the adjutant knew his duty it might be got 
through easy enough. 

I had been earnestly perusing " Hardie's Infantry Tactics," 
and studying the " School of the Battalion," and preparing the 
company for battalion drill. I had another advantage. We 
had in our company three members who had formerly been in 
the " regular army of the United States." One of these was a 
thorough soldier, and had been a drum major. He was a 
Scotchman by birth, a native of Kelso. He had been nearly 
all his life a soldier by choice, and he had been about nine 
years in the United States army. This man knew every tactic 
and regulation, and, being my countryman, was always ready 
to instruct me or explain anything I wished to know. We 
marched up and took our place, and, so far as the limited 
evolutions of a dress parade gave us any opportunity of dis- 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 163 

playing our efficiency, we imagined at least that we had 
acquitted ourselves very well, and, though less in numerical 
strength than any of the other companies, we were more 
efficient in drill, and we had great hopes that we would be 
included in the next regiment to be organised and sent off, 
which was our main desire and object. 

When the orderly sergeants went to the front and centre to 
make verbal reports of the state of their companies I had been 
instructed by my Scotch friend how to report, as some con- 
fusion and fun was anticipated. There were in all 10 com- 
panies, and my place was near the centre. 

The adjutant addressing the sergeant on the right ordered 
him to report. The man, who had evidently never before been 
on a battalion parade, was somewhat confused, and did not 
seem to understand what was wanted of him. After some 
stammering he said he had sent in his report in the morning. 
This caused a little laughter, with the peremptory order of, 
" Silence in the ranks ! " He was told that he must now make 
a verbal report of the state of his company. He could not 
exactly remember, but the adjutant helped him through, and 
told him he must be better prepared at next parade. 

The second man had pulled out of his pocket his roll book, 
but was told he must not produce a roll book on parade, that 
he must have always the state of his company in his mind 
ready to report at a moment's notice. He was also helped 
over the fence by the adjutant, and cautioned to be better 
prepared in future. 

The third man boldly stepped forward. 

" Keep your place," said the adjutant. 

The man stepped back into his place, bowed an apology, and 
began to explain that as this part of the duty was not a part 
of the company duty, and as no notice that such a 

"I don't want a speech," cried the adjutant, who was now 
beginning to lose his patience. " Let me have your report." 

" But," said the man, determined to vindicate his position. 

" Let me have no 'buts,' but report." 

''What Willi say?" 

" Say anything you like, but report." 

"Well, Sir, if you will just allow me " 

"That fellow must be a lawyer," I heard some one whisper 
in the ranks behind me. 

" And the adjutant a judge," said another. 



154 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

A titter passed along the line. 

" Silence in the ranks !" thundered the adjutant, as he passed 
on to the fourth man not wishing to create a scene. 

The fourth was little better prepared, but was helped over 
and instructed like the others. I guessed number three was a 
lawyer or a politician, and the conjectures were correct, he 
was a lawyer, and a glib one too. • 

All this time I was conning in my mind how well I would 
make my report, which was ready on my tongue ; and salut- 
ing, I said, " Baton Rouge Rifles, aggregate 85, present 78, rest 
accounted for." 

" That is the right kind of report to make," said the adju- 
tant, turning to the others. 

He then passed to number six, the man on my left, who 
reported with an ease and precision which showed him to be a 
thorough military man. 

" That is better still," said the adjutant, passing to number 
seven. 

The latter was a mere lad, just from a military school, but 
whose every look betokened frolic and mischief. He called 
out with a smile and an air of confidence — 

" Company present and accounted for." 

This, however, did not satisfy the adjutant, who perhaps 
thought he detected a trace of the regardless, and sternly told 
him it would not do ; he must give the aggregate number, and 
the number present on parade. He quickly gave it, although 
he told me afterwards that he did not know but merely 
guessed it, as he knew that the adjutant would not take the 
trouble to count them. The remaining three got through 
tolerably well, and the next order was, " Attention to orders." 

The " general orders " read out on parade were generally 
awaited with some eagerness, and were like the last news to 
the troops as to their future movements or destination. On 
this occasion, however, they were of little interest, being only 
something about how the " officer of the day " should wear his 
sash that he might be distinguishable, and pointing out a 
certain field outside of the camp to be used for battalion drill. 
The parade was then dismissed, and we marched back to 
camp. 

It was now near six o'clock. It had been a beautiful day, 
and the camp ground and all our equipage had finely dried. 
Orders were given to pitch tents again ; and everything 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 155 

being now dry was put back into its place. Beds again filled 
with the now dried hay, and the mosquito bars fixed up, and 
everything about the camp had a much more comfortable and 
cheerful appearance than on the previous night, the different 
messes got their fires lighted and proceeded to cook supper. I 
may. here observe that at this camp, and at this time, the 
men fortunately did not require to trust entirely to the com- 
missary ; they had money of their own, and plenty of articles 
of food, and other necessaries were now being exposed for sale 
in and about the camp and easily obtainable, although any- 
thing in the way of cooked food or pastries was not allowed, 
or at least not encouraged, it being desirable that the men 
should learn to cook and provide for themselves. 

After supper, the time was pleasantly spent round the camp 
fires, smoking, talking on different subjects, story-telling, singing, 
joking, card-playing, and other amusements, and occasional 
visits from friends in other companies, until tattoo sounded, 
when the company was again formed, the roll called, and 
then lights out and off to sleep. 

Such is a sketch of how our first day in camp was passed, 
and it may be taken as a general sample of them all. 

I retired to my tent, which was now fitted up and comfort- 
able, made up my roll-book, marked off the names of the men 
to be detailed for guard and other duties on the following 
morning, entered in the company-book list of the quarter- 
masters' stores received, and names of the captains of messes 
to whom they were delivered, made out requisition for rations 
for the following day, and then got under the mosquito bar 
and slept soundly until reveille sounded. 

On the second day the routine was pretty much the same, 
except that more time and attention were given to drill — our 
company getting outside of the camp to practise skirmish drill, 
in which it was tolerably proficient, and in the afternoon 
we had battalion drill. 

On the third or fourth day of our camp life, an incident 
occurred of rather a melancholy nature, which cast for a short 
time a sort of gloom and reserve over the members, and 
checked for a time their joviality. I have already referred to 
one of the members who got leave of absence, and went into 
the city on the first night of camping, and for whose future 
peace of mind it might have been better had he remained 
in camp. In the earlier part of this book I gave an account 



156 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

of a conversation I heard in a cafe in Baton Rouge, on the eve 
of and regarding the proposed bombardment of Fort Sumter, 
and of some very able remarks made by a Mr. S., then a strong 
Union man, and one of whose sons joined our company after 
Lincoln issued his proclamation. Young J. S. was one of 
those who obtained leave of absence on the night referred to. 

On the third or fourth morning after our encampment, he 
came to me immediately after roll-call, and asked me to give 
him a clear pass from duty or default in order that he might 
obtain leave to go to the city for an hour or two on some very 
urgent business connected with his father. As he was not on 
any detail or special duty, and had no marks against his name, 
I readily did so, as far as I was concerned, but I reminded him 
that it was but a short time since he had leave of absence, and 
perhaps the captain would remind him of that, and as the 
" coms." (as we called the commissioned officers) were still 
asleep, the " old man " (as we called the captain) might be 
cross and refuse him. He said he would plead the urgency of 
the case, and. taking the pen and ink with him so that the 
captain might sign the pass without getting up, he proceeded to 
the officers' tent. In a few minutes he came running back 
with the pen and ink, thanked me, and said it was all right. 
I thought I saw a wildness in his eye. I asked if it was all 
well with his father ; he said it was all well, and started off 
quickly towards the camp gate. About half-past nine he 
returned and reported to me as I was forming the company 
for drill. He got liis rifle, and took his place in the ranks as 
usual. 

In the afternoon the news was circulated in the camp that 
a duel had been fought that morning about a mile from the 
camp, and that a young physician of New Orleans, the son of 
an eminent gentleman in Baton Bouge had been killed by a 
volunteer from one of the companies at Camp Walker. The 
truth immediately flashed upon me, and it was not long before 
the report was confirmed. 

It seemed that on the night in question when J. S. was out 
on leave he had met with this young physician at a cafe. 
There had been some feud between their families, and an alter- 
cation ensued and some offensive epithets applied by the 
physician to the father of J. S. led to a challenge, with 
the result as stated. The matter was quietly talked over 
among the officers, but they could take no action ; he had not 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 157 

broken his leave. The affair took place outside of the camp 
and beyond their jurisdiction. It was a matter for the civil 
authorities. But such things were so common that the civil 
authorities seldom interfered, and the thing passed over and 
was scarcely noticed in the excitement of the times. 

Our captain, however, was much put about ; he had a great 
regard for the young man that was killed ; he never forgave 
J. S., and wished him out of the company as a rash and 
impetuous young man who might give us some trouble, which 
was to some extent verified. J. S. returned to his duty without 
ever saying a word of the matter, and the subject was never 
mentioned in the company ; but he was morose and silent, and 
seemed to conceive an idea that the company rather shunned 
him, and he was very apt to fly up at anything which he thought 
was like a slight or insult. He seemed to feel his position much, 
and I rather felt for him, and tried to show as little reserve 
and be as free and easy with him as possible. He seemed to 
appreciate this, and was exceedingly submissive and obedient 
to me and attentive to his duty. 

We got very quickly inured to camp life. It was astonish- 
ing how readily the boys learnt to shift for themselves and 
continued to add to their conveniences and comforts. 

All the while new companies of volunteers from all jDarts of 
the State were daily pouring into the camp. These were 
mostly newly-raised companies, and, of course, were raw and 
undrilled. They were composed chiefly of men of good and 
high standing, wealthy planters' sons, sons of merchants, 
bankers, and other business men from the other towns in the 
State, professional men and students in abundance, all intent 
on showing their zeal in the great cause by serving as private 
soldiers, which Mrs, Grundy for the time being had declared 
to be the highest and most honourable position that a man and 
a true patriot could fill. Aspirations to any higher office, even 
to that of a corporal, would in a measure detract from the zeal 
displayed. Their whole desire was to be trained, drilled, and 
made into good soldiers, and I must do them the justice to say 
that they applied themselves most earnestly to learn their 
duties. 

Drill sergeants were now in great demand, and although a 
great many of the young men of the South were trained in 
military schools, still drill officers were at a great premium. 

I had, besides my own company duties, often to assist in 



158 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

outside duties in drilling raw companies. It was, however, a 
pleasure so far, as they were most assiduous in their desire to 
learn. Many had provided themselves with books of instruc- 
tion, and, after being instructed in the different movements in 
the manual, would continue to practise them in their leisure 
hours. 

I have already referred to a fine body of volunteers belong- 
ing to New Orleans called the Washington Artillery. I may 
here observe that in the American service all artillery corps 
also acted as infantry. A finer body of men than the Wash- 
ington Artillery I have never seen, and for discipline and 
efficiency I have yet to see them surjDassed even in the armies 
of Europe. I wonder where they are now. I fear few of 
them survived the war. Most of this corps had already gone 
to the front, and of those that remained the officers were most 
useful in assisting to carry out the staff duties of the camp. 
Besides the' ordinary company and battalion drill, much had 
here to be taught in the way of field and staff duties, such as 
camp forming, pitching and striking of tents, rolling away and 
stowing into waggons, post and guard duties. 

The number of men in the camp had now increased to six 
or seven thousand. The camp was enlarged and extended, 
and in order to train the men well to guard duty, a large 
number of ■ posts were created so as to give employment to a 
large guard. Many of these posts were quite unnecessary, 
and were maintained merely with the object of training the 
men to guard duty. 

So many men in the youth and prime of life, of high cul- 
ture and education, of so many classes and professions, thus 
suddenly taken away from their ordinary business pursuits, 
and comfortable and luxurious homes, to be converted into 
soldiers, and thrown together within the limited space of a 
camp, with all its roughing experiences, was an incident of no 
ordinary kind, and it may well be imagined that many a device 
was resorted to to maintain levity and keep away ennui. 

The eager desire to acquire proficiency no doubt absorbed a 
large portion of the men's time, and, though constant drill and 
frequent guard duty were imposed to keep them employed, 
even that must be intermixed with a little variety, and many 
different kinds of amusement were got up to pass the time and 
keep them all lively. 

But by far the greatest hardship to endure was the confine- 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 159 

ment to the camp ; beside this all others were joked at as 
trifles, and many a scheme was devised to get away from the 
place without going through the special formality of awaiting 
their turn and getting permission. The requisite to pass the 
guard was by day commissioned officer or written pass, and by 
night the countersign. The countersign being given at night 
to all commissioned officers, who, if granting leave of absence 
to any of their men in place of a written pass, at night fur- 
nished them with the countersign. 

Of the many devices used to get out of camp at night, I will 
give one specimen. 

I have said the camp had been extended. It embraced 
a large building which had been used as a hotel during the 
races, and was now used as staff head-quarters. From this 
building were several w^alks leading through various gates into 
the enclosed racecourse, which had formed the original camp. 
These gates had at first been closely guarded by sentinels, 
but now the whole of them with the outside buildings were 
enclosed in the camp, and the entire place was guarded by an 
outer line of sentinels. These posts were completely enclosed in 
the camp, and it was quite unnecessary to guard them. 
However, seemingly with the view of creating plenty of 
sentinel duty, they were still kept guarded during the day, 
and at night sometimes they were guarded and sometimes they 
were not, according to the whim of the officer of the day. 

In the company next to ours there was a scapegrace whom 
I shall call Ben. If ever this meets his eye he will know who 
I mean. Ben's demands for leave of absence had been so 
frequent, and his abuse of leave had been so marked, that his 
leave was stopped altogether. Ben observed one night that 
one of those inner gates had been left without any sentinel. 
He immediately goes to his tent, gets his musket, and takes 
his station at the gate waiting for a fish. 

By-and-by a commissioned officer approaches going towards 
the staff head-quarters. 

" Halt ! who goes there ? " exclaimed Ben. 

" A friend with the countersign," was the reply. 

" Advance and give the countersign." Ben comes to " arms 
aport," bends forward to receive the countersign, which the 
officer gives in a low tone — 

" South Carolina." 

" All right ; pass on," said Ben, coming to " shoulder arms." 



160 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

The officer passes on, and Ben having obtained the counter- 
sign, leaves the sinecure post to take care of itself, goes to his 
tent, lays by his musket, dresses, passes the outer guard by 
giving the countersign, makes for the city, taking care to be 
back to camp before reveille. Ben managed to carry out his 
plan for several nights, but was at last found out. The thing 
was not without its good effects, as it taught the officers to be 
more careful in placing guards at night. 

Our company, which had been well trained in skirmish drill, 
bayonet exercise, and other accomplishments, had now been 
inspected, and declared not only efficient but a crack company, 
was entered for the third regiment which was being made up 
of the 10 most efficient companies in camp, and we were all 
rejoicing at the prospect of getting away from Camp Walker, 
although we had not the least idea of where we would be sent. 

About 10 days after we went to Camp Walker, our captain 
came to my tent and told me that the third regiment had now 
been organised, of which we would be the right flank company ; 
that he would be leaving the company, ha\dng obtained the 
appointment of major of the regiment ; and that it would likely 
be a general promotion forward. The first lieutenant would be 
captain, the second lieutenant would be first lieutenant, and 
that I certainly should be second lieutenant, but for that 
stumbling-block about citizenship. Would I not alter my 
mind, and declare my intention to become a citizen, and the 
difficulty could be got over ? I still declined. He urged me 
to think well over the matter. In the meantime, he told me 
to let the first duty sergeant take my place to-morrow, and 
come with him into the city after guard mounting, as he wished 
to collect some money which had been promised as donations 
to the company fund by some of the wealthy merchants, and if 
I would reconsider my determination, and declare my inten- 
tions to become a citizen, he would go with me to General 
Tracy and see about getting the matter arranged. 

On the following day we went to the city, and on calling at 
some of the offices of the merchants referred to, the principals 
were not there, business being about suspended. Some of 
them, however, were expected to be in about one o'clock, but 
the captain, having to go to head-quarters, could not then calk 
A note was left, and it was arranged that I should call about 
that time. I called as arranged, saw the principals, and got 
cheques for the money. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 161 

On coming out from one of those offices in Carondelet Street, 
something attracted my attention which called back old 
memories. It was the British ensign, waving from a building 
on the opposite side of the street, which, on looking closer at, 
I saw to be the office of the British consul. This flag I had 
not seen for some years, as it is never seen back from seaports, 
or higher up the river than New Orleans. There was some- 
thing in the sight at this time which awakened in me strange 
feelings, and if ever I had entertained the slightest thoughts 
of renouncing my allegiance to Great Britain, they were now 
dispelled, and I determined to adhere to the old flag. This 
trifling incident, however, somewhat damped my ardour in the 
cause I had embraced; and the same day I heard of the 
Queen's proclamation warning all her subjects to remain 
neutral, and denying protection to any that should take up 
arms on either side. I felt a little dull, and on my way back 
to camp, I could not help reflecting on the rash step I had 
taken, which seemed to sever me farther than ever from any 
home associations, and to place me in a rather singular position. 
It was, however, now too late to retract, and I must take my 
chance for a year at all events. The active duties of my office 
gave me little time for reflection. 

The same evening there was a dress parade of the newly- 
formed regiment, and the organisation of the 3rd Regiment of 
Louisiana Volunteers, with the names of the field officers to 
command it were read out in "general orders." 

The colonel was a graduate of West Point, was a thorough 
military man, and had been General of the State militia, and 
also State engineer. 

The lieutenant-colonel was a veteran colonel of volunteers 
who had served in the Mexican war. The major was our late 
captain. These constituted the field officers of a regiment 
according to the regulations. The commissioned stafi" consisted 
of an adjutant, a quarter-master, a commissary, and a surgeon. 

The office of captain in our company was now vacant. The 
first lieutenant was promoted to captain, the second lieutenant 
to first lieutenant, and we were ordered to elect a second 
lieutenant. This office fell to a member of the company who 
was acting as private, a young lawyer, who, though not having 
great experience in military matters, had a good military 
education, and was a hard-working and intelligent man, and 
very popular in the company, and the appointment was 

L 



162 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

approved. The regiment was now fully organised, and 
battalion drill was gone into with great vigour. 

Our company was much inferior in numerical strength and 
physique to the other companies composing the regiment. 
They were mostly from the northern part of the State and 
composed of fine stalwart men, and many of the companies 
were over a hundred strong. They were armed with smooth- 
bore muskets of the newest pattern, that being the arm then 
generally in use. Our company of lighter material was armed 
with Springfield rifles and sabre bayonets. They greatly 
excelled the other companies in drill and general training, and 
they were a little vain of their accomplishments and liked to 
display them. This, however, stirred up the other companies 
to exertion. They seemed determined not to be behind us, 
and they pursued their drill with great avidity, and in a 
few months it took us all our time to maintain our name 
as the crack company of the regiment. Being, however, the 
only company armed with rifles, we were distinguished as the 
" rifle company." 

We had not long to remain in Camp Walker. We had got 
marching orders, and many were the surmises as to our 
destination. 

It was now generally known that Lincoln had made a call for 
90,000 men in addition to the 75,000 already levied, and that 
the Federal forces would invade the South by three main lines 
of attack — one on the east, by crossing the Potomac into 
Virginia ; one in the centre, by the Mississippi river and down 
the left bank through Tennessee ; and one on the west, from 
Missouri down through Arkansas, 

The South was preparing three lines of defence — the Army 
of Virginia, the Army of the Centre, and the Army of the 
West. To which of these armies we would be sent we could 
not tell. 



CHAPTER XY. 

DEPAETURE FROM NEW ORLEANS — REMARKS ON THE QUARTER-MASTER AND 
COMMISSARY DEPARTMENTS — ARRIVAL AT BATON ROUGE — A PARTING 
INTERVIEW — INCIDENTS ON THE PASSAGE — ARRIVAL AT LITTLE ROCK — 
VIGOROUS TRAINING— ARRIVAL AT FORT SMITH— PRACTICAL DUTIES- 
DEFERENCE TO RANK — AMUSING INCIDENT — GENERAL m'GULLOCH — 
REPORTS AND ALARMS— PREPARATIONS TO TAKE THE FIELD. 

On the evening of the 17 th of May, we received orders to 
strike tents, pack up, and prepare to march. This vi^as pleas- 
ing intelligence, and we were all glad to bid farewell to Camp 
Walker, with its broiling heat, bad water, and mosquitoes. 
We marched to the city wharf, and embarked on board a 
steamer waiting to receive us. This showed that we were not 
to join the Army of Virginia, but either that of the West or of 
the Centre. The steamers, three in number, were of the 
ordinary river passenger class pressed into the service. 

This method of pressing into service is one of the arbi- 
trary measures resorted to in time of war. The quarter- 
master-general takes possession of whatever private property 
he requires for the emergency in the shape of houses, stores, 
railways, steamers, or other boats, horses, carts, waggons, or 
any other property required for the public service. A certifi- 
cate is given to the owner, and the price or value is determined 
by fixed regulation, payment being generally made by a 
warrant on the treasury department. This may seem some- 
what arbitrary, but if the Government is solvent, it is not so 
bad as might appear, a fair price being allowed, and the owner 
gets his compensation direct, without having the greater part 
of it swallowed up by arbiters and lawyers. While on this 
subject, I might say a word or two on the quarter-master and 
commissary departments, as far as they came under my obser- 
vation. I do not know how these departments may be 
managed now, in the United States or in other countries, but 
in this war they were both in the North and South subject to 
the grossest corruption and peculation. 

In the quarter-master's department the plundering was from 
the State more than from the soldier, although the latter 



164 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

suffered much from it, but in the commissary department the 
robbing of the soldier was so open and barefaced that it is 
astonishing it was tolerated, or that it did not create a mutiny. 
In the South it is true it had less effect, as less was expected 
from the departments, and the men knew that they were often 
beset with difficulties, but they did not trust much to either 
department. 

The army was furnished, through the quarter-master's 
department, with quarters, whether houses or tents, camp 
equipage, arms, ammunition, accoutrements, and clothing, 
and all means of transport. These the department obtained 
from contractors, and the shocking quality of the materials 
furnished showed corruption to a great extent. The soldier, 
of course, knew nothing about the contracts, and in the South 
they had always the excuse that good materials were not to be 
got ; but the things which mostly affected the soldier personally 
were shoes and clothing, and these, to a great extent, they 
managed to provide for themselves, or they were sent to them 
by their friends at home. 

The system pursued by the commissaries, even making 
allowance for the difficulties they were subject to, were simply 
disgraceful. I do not exaggerate when I say that on an 
average from every requisition of rations said to be issued to 
the troops, the commissary took off one-third and sold it, 
putting the proceeds in his pocket. The cause of this pecula- 
tion lay greatly in the system of management. I might say 
that the system, as it then existed, was such that even a man 
of the most sterling integrity, and of honest and upright 
principles, if appointed commissary of a regiment on active 
service could hardly, after six months, remain an honest man. 
If so, he would deserve the greatest credit for it. 

The system was this : The commissary received a supply of 
provisions from the depot. He got with it an invoice detailing- 
quantity and price. From these he issued to the non-commis- 
sioned officers and soldiers, on requisitions signed by the 
orderly-sergeants and captains of companies. He sold for 
money to all officers and men pertaining to the army. He 
had to account for the amount of the consignment (losses and 
casualties excepted) by money and requisitions. The practice 
was this : An orderly sergeant made out a requisition for his 
company — say for 100 men for one day — flour, 100 lb.; beef, 
pork, or bacon, 75 lb.; coffee, seven lb.; sugar, 14 lb.; rice or 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 165 

pease, six lb.; candles, six; soap, two lb,; salt, pepper, vinegar, etc. 
This requisition was signed by the captain, and men were 
detailed to go to the commissary store to draw these rations. 
The commissary takes the requisition and calls his assistant, 
and says to the men, " Well, you can get three-quarter ration 
of flour, half ration of pork, half ration of coffee, and half 
ration of sugar, and that is all." The men would grumble and 
say, " We only got half rations yesterday." " Can't help it, I 
am short of provisions, and there are other companies to serve 
as well as you, and all must get their share." He then sticks 
the requisition on the file, and his assistant weighs out the 
rations. " Will we get the back rations when the supplies 
come up 1 " some mischievous young rascal would say as he 
dodged behind a barrel. The commissary would put his hand 
on his revolver, but restrain himself, and pretend to take no 
notice of a thing so absurd, and buries his face in his book, 
while he credits himself with full rations issued to 100 men 
as per requisition, while his assistant and the men would laugh 
at the audacity of the offender, "no back rations" being the 
commissary's watchword, and, what was more strange, no 
requisition would be received unless it was made out for the 
full amount. 

Thus the commissary had a voucher for and was credited 
with supplying a full requisition when he had only supplied a 
small part of it, and he had the rest to sell for his own benefit. 
I have frequently known instances of a company, after giving 
the full requisition and. being supplied with half rations on 
the grounds that provisions were scarce, getting one of the 
army waggon drivers, and giving him money to go to the 
commissary store and purchase four or five pounds of coffee, 
or other necessaries, which had been kept off them, which he 
would obtain for money without the least trouble, and this 
system was carried on quite openly. I more than once nearly 
got into serious difficulty by insisting on marking on the 
requisition the actual quantity of provisions delivered. 

In the post-commissaries and depots there was another 
system of peculation. 

In these depots there were immense stocks of provisions 
stored for army use. These were periodically inspected by 
officers, generally of the sinecure kind appointed through 
favour for such purposes, and there was always a considerable 
quantity marked " condemned " as being unfit for use. The 



166 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

ceremony of inspecting was generally done in this way : The 
inspecting officers would come to the depot, where they would 
be met by the post-commissary, who would receive them in the 
most friendly manner, and conduct them into the large stores. 
On each side along the wall would be piled up on the top of 
each other with their ends exposed, a great many barrels of 
beef, pork, flour, biscuit, etc. 

" These," says the commissary, " are what I have myself 
picked out as being bad. Those on this side are good, but you 
can inspect for yourself. Cooper, open one or two of those 
barrels." The cooper opens a barrel wliich of course had been 
already selected. The unsavoury brine spurts out. The 
officers stand back to save their handsome uniforms. Other 
barrels are examined of flour, biscuit, etc., similarly selected. 
Then all on that side, the bulk of which were probably the 
best provisions, are ordered to be marked condemned. The 
officers would take a list of the number to make their report, 
and then go and inspect the hospital stores of ^vines, brandies, 
etc., of which they would acknowledge they were better 
judges. A few days' notice would then be given of a sale of 
"condemned army stores," and they would be auctioned ofi* 
for a mere trifle. The commissary of course has an agent 
present who knew what lots to purchase. 

Thus it was said large quantities of the very best stores were 
often marked " Condemned," and sold ofi" at a mere trifle, the 
commissary ha^dng an agent on the ground to buy them in. 

This system was more common in the North than in the 
South, as in the South, after the first year of the war, there 
were not the stores to work upon and no outside market for 
them. But in the last year of the war I saw in one of the 
seaports of Mexico a large quantity of mess beef and pork 
which bore the mark, " Condemned U.S. Stores," and which 
were of the very best quality, and sold at a high price. 

The 3rd Regiment of Louisiana Volunteers, 1060 strong, 
left New Orleans on the night of the 17th of May, 1861, 
amidst the loud cheers of the populace. 

No special fitting up had been made on the steamers for the 
conveyance of troops. On our steamer there were three com- 
panies, under command of the major, our former captain. A 
certain space of the boat was allotted to each company, and 
the men were allowed to make themselves as comfortable or as 
uncomfortable as they chose. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 167 

The steamers proceeded up the river, and on the afternoon 
of the following day they approached Baton Rouge. The men 
of our company were now told that the steamer would stop 
there for about an hour that they might have a short inter- 
\iew with their friends, and that notice had been telegraphed 
to Baton Rouge of the steamer's approach, so that their friends 
might be at the wharf to meet them. As the vessel came near 
to the landing-place it appeared to be less like the tearful 
parting of a few friends than a great public demonstration. 
The whole front of the town, the wharf and banks of the river 
were crowded with people. Flags floated on the Capitol and 
the public buildings and almost every other place where a 
flag could be stuck up. The steamer came to the wharf just 
as it was getting dark. Salutes were fired from the garrison 
and the river bank. A band of music welcomed the arrival. 
The governor and his suite stood on the wharf to greet the 
officers and men. All this was of course to create enthusiasm 
by honouring those who had already taken up arms, and to 
stir up others who had not yet done so ; and it was not without 
its efiect. 

The Baton Rouge Rifle Company, now known as Company 
A, was granted leave to go on shore for an hour. The meet- 
ings with friends, as may be supposed, were affecting, fathers, 
mothers, wives, sisters, younger brothers, and children gathering 
round and embracing the already slightly bronzed embryo 
warriors, while young ladies went through selecting such 
members as were known to have no family ties or relatives 
and presenting them, not with bouquets, but neat small cases 
containing pin-cushion, needles, thread, buttons, etc. — a most 
useful gift ; while the receivers, scarcely knowing how to thank 
the donors, and confused in the excitement of the moment at 
what was going on around them, quite forgot themselves, and 
some of them in their recklessness saluted the fair damsels 
with a kiss. The young ladies, under the circumstances, 
forgave the rashness — indeed I am not certain whether in the 
confusion I did not myself commit the offence. 

Having no tender relatives of my own, I passed from one to 
another. Mothers, one after another, came up to me, holding 
their sons round the neck. " Now, Mr, W., Charlie is more 
directly under your charge than any other officer ; I hope you 
will take good care of him and make him do his duty. And, 
CharKe, you must always be obedient to your officers, you 



168 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

know it is your duty." I would affect to treat the matter 
lightly, and answer gaily, " Oh, never fear, Charlie is getting 
on very well ; he will make a good soldier ; he knows if he 
don't do his duty, I will take a stick to him ; " and I would 
laugh and give Charlie a poke on the shoulder. "All right, 
sergeant," Charlie would say, with a manly and happy 
expression. The anxious mother would seem pleased and 
assured, and reply, " Oh, yes ; I know you will take care 
of him, but you know what is before you, and he is only 
16. May God protect you." The good woman would break 
down, and could say no more, and I turned to the next. My 
partner in business, who had come down to meet me, and who 
had been talking with the major, came up and told me that 
the leave ashore had been extended to two hours, and that I 
might come up and have tea. I must, however, learn this 
from some authority, and I saw the major walking up town 
with some of his family. I ran and asked him. He told me we 
would leave at nine o'clock as the steamer was going to take in 
wood. 

It was now only a little past seven, so we walked up town. 
It was a lovely evening ; the streets were fragrant with the 
flowers of the chinaberry trees which lined the pavements. 
What a difference from Camp Walker ! Every person, male 
and female, seemed to be in the street, and all wishful to stop 
and speak. The excitement appeared to have greatly increased 
since we had left, or rather the people had begun more to 
realise the situation. From everyone we heard expressions 
such as, " Is not this terrible 1 Heaven knows what it is all 
going to come to ! War, I suppose, and a bloody war too ; 
there has already been fighting in some places." " Where are 
you going to ? " I would be asked. "I do not know." " I 
hear you are going to Cairo," says one. " I cannot tell ; all I 
know is that we proceed up the river under sealed orders." 
" I rather think," said another, " that you will be going to 
Missouri. General Lyon, with an army of United States 
troops, has overrun that State, laying it waste with fire and 
sword ; " and there were many conjectures and rumours on 
the subject. We reached my friend's house, and had tea and 
some conversation. At length the steamboat's whistle blew as 
the signal for all to be on board again. 

I was soon on board, mustered the company, and found all 
present and two additions of men who had been carried away 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 169 

by the excitement, and sought to share the honours without 
thinking of the hardships. Provision was made for them, 
and they were enrolled without much ceremony. 

The steamer was at last cast oiF and proceeded up the river. 
The boys were greatly elated with the reception they had got 
at their native town, and were now more ready and determined 
than ever to endure any hardship and fight for the cause to 
the last. 

The part of the boat allotted to our company was the hurri- 
cane deck, with the blue canopy of heaven overhead. It was, 
however, fine weather, mild and clear, with a bright moon. 
There was no tattoo on the steamer, and the men could stay 
up or lie down as they chose. There was not much inclination 
to sleep. Some were talking and happy ; others were silent 
and absorbed in their own thoughts. I was sitting on the 
forward rail about an hour after we had left Baton Rouge 
chatting with others, when some one called my attention to a 
commotion abaft the pilot-house. I looked in that direction, 
and I saw the flash of steel in the moonlight and heard the 
clash of sabre bayonets. I had just time to run aft, draw my 
sabre, and throw myself between the combatants before serious 
mischief was done. One of the combatants was J. S., who, 
from some real or imaginary slight or insult from another high- 
blooded member of the company, thought fit to resent in such 
a way as speedily led to a conflict. Both were furious and 
seemed bent on mischief. I had them disarmed and 
taken to difierent parts of the boat and placed under guard. 
The commissioned ofiicers ha^dng gone to bed in the lower 
saloon, I could do nothing further in the meantime. I thought 
it probable that when ashore at Baton Rouge the combatants 
had been paying a visit to a cafe, and were thus a little excited. 
About an hour afterwards a deputation of the company came 
to me and said that the parties had agreed to settle the matter 
amicably, and if I would release them and say no more of the 
matter they would pledge their word of honour as soldiers that 
the disputants would not renew the quarrel. I did so, and the 
matter dropped. 

We soon came up to the other two steamers, which had been 
wooding higher up the river, and the three vessels proceeded 
in company. 

It cannot be good for soldiers, either morally or physically, 
to undergo long voyages on transports where they have not 



170 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

their usual duties, drills, or exercise to perform, and unless 
there is some special provision to keep them in proper employ- 
ment they are apt to lounge, play cards, hatch mischief, and 
quarrel. I have no doubt that the more complete arrange- 
ments for transport, as in the British service, these things are 
provided for, but in this voyage of a few days on a crude system 
and with crude material I could observe its bad effects. 

Some three days after leaving Baton Bouge the steamers 
left the Mississippi and proceeded up the Arkansas river, which 
indicated that we were destined for the " Army of the West," 
and the following day we were landed at " Little Bock," the 
capital of the State of Arkansas. Here we learned that our 
first destination was " Fort Smith," about 250 miles further 
up the river on the border of the " Indian Territory ;" but, as 
the water was now too low for the steamers to go there, we 
must remain at Little Bock until the river rose, or, if that did 
not take place in time, Ave would march by land as soon as 
army waggons could be provided. 

A newly-raised regiment of cavalry was drawn up to receive 
us, but as we marched up the town preceded by a fife and 
drum band their horses, though splendid animals, were not 
used to that sort of thing, and became restive and plunged 
fearfully, threatening to throw their riders. The animals were 
well managed, however, and the riders kept their seats. 

In the meantime our lieutenant-colonel ordered the band to 
stop playing for fear of accident. This, however, the troopers 
would not hear of, and their colonel (Churchhill) riding up 
said he wished their horses to be trained to the sound of the 
fife and drum, and was glad he had now got the opportunity. 
Although he had been able to raise 1000 men and horses, 
he had not yet been able to raise a single fife and drum. The 
street was very wide, and the troopers formed column by 
troops and preceded us up town, their horses rearing and 
plunging violently, to the no small amusement of our men, 
and I could just imagine that the drummers sometimes gave 
an extra rub-a-dub to see if they could not awaken a 
catastrophe. 

It was of no use, the men could rein their horses, and they 
kept their seats. We proceeded out to the large city park 
where we were to encamp. 

The park was a tract of undulating land not much improved, 
but cleared and covered with good grass, and interspersed 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 171 

with many fine shady trees, some cattle and sheep grazing- 
npon it, and in appearance it was not unlike a nobleman's 
park in the old country. 

Our tents and other baggage ha^^ng been brought up from 
the steamer under care of a guard, the camp was soon formed, 
tents pitched, fires lighted, rations drawn and supper prepared. 
We were now getting used to this kind of duty. The sergeant- 
major came round to order the quota of men for guard to 
report immediately. The guards were posted and the camp 
guarded round, and, as it was facetiously expressed, no one 
could pass out unless they could say, "Natches." 

This expression arose from an incident said to have occurred 
at Camp Walker. 

A raw recruit, said to be a German (as these were generally 
the butts for such stories), was placed at one of the posts, with 
orders to let no one pass unless they could give the counter- 
sign, and the countersign was " Natches." Hans took his 
position, and shortly afterwards some one approaching, Hans 
cried out, " Halt ! you can't pass here unless you can say, 
' Natches.' " 

This was said to have occurred at Camp Walker. But the 
story may be as old as guard mounting itself, and many other 
stories, such as the sentinel who was questioned for not salut- 
ing the officer of the day, while the latter was going the night 
rounds, replied, that he thought the officer of the day had no 
authority in the night. 

Being now a regiment we felt better satisfied ; we were 
more like a family, or rather a moving community ; our home 
was the regiment, and the farther we got from our native State, 
the more we became attached to it. 

Having passed the first night in our new camp, we were 
glad to fiid that there seemed to be no mosquitoes in the place, 
which was a great pleasure to realise. 

The several morning duties and company drill being over, 
orders were given to shift camp. 

A more suitable place had been selected in the park, and a 
camp laid out in the true regulation form. Tents were quickly 
struck and carried to the new site, and a new camp formed 
with all modern improvements, and the training was now con- 
tinued with great energy — company drill in the forenoon, and 
battalion drill in the afternoon. The place was in every way 
favourable for manoeuvring. 



172 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Our company, with not a little vanity, liked to show off its 
accomplishments in skirmish drill, under the eyes of hundreds 
of spectators who came out from the city to look on. 

This prompted some of the other companies to learn the 
drill, and eventually one other company got tolerably proficient, 
and was placed on the left flank of the regiment, our company 
being on the right. The other eight companies, being stronger 
in number and physique, formed the four divisions of the 
square, and the other two companies acted as right and left 
flank skirmishers. 

The zeal and diligent application of the men tended greatly 
to accelerate their progress towards efficiency, and, on the 
whole, the regiment was progressing fast, and promised to be 
an efiective corps. A school had been established for the 
instruction and special drill of the sergeants, under the direc- 
tion of the sergeant-major, who was a thorough soldier, and a 
graduate of a military institute. 

I mention these matters as descriptive of the mode adopted 
in time of need of organising and speedily bringing up to a 
state of tolerable efficiency a young regiment of volunteers. 

When we had been here about eight days, a rise in the 
river took place, and steamers being ready, we broke up camp 
and embarked for Fort Smith. 

Fort Smith is situated near the right bank of the Arkansas 
river, about 500 miles from where it joins the Mississippi. It is 
about the head of the navigation, and on the line which bounds 
the State of Arkansas with the Indian Territory. It had 
always been garrisoned by the United States troops, but had, 
like the other forts in the South, been surrendered when the 
State seceded. 

The adjoining town, which takes its name from the fort, 
contained at that time about three or four thousand inhabi- 
tants. The fort was of some strength and advantageously 
situated. 

It was now well known that we were to form a part of the 
Army of the West under Brigadier-General M'Culloch, and 
Fort Smith was for the present to be the base of operations. 
Several other bodies of troops were encamped in the neighbour- 
hood. 

We marched out to a suitable place about three miles from 
the town, where our camp was roughly pitched for the first 
night. On the following morning a suitable place was selected 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 173 

on a fine, dry ridge along the border of the Indian Territory. 
This place we were ordered to clear and prepare for a camp, 
and as it was probable that we would remain here for some 
time, a regular and proper camp was required. Here the men 
were initiated into the more common and practical duties of 
the soldier, which many of them did not so much relish. Large 
details were ordered with axes, spades, and pick-axes to do the 
necessary work. Trees were cut down, brushwood cleared 
away, ditches cut where necessary for drainage, and along on 
the side next the Indian Territory, and on the left where most 
exposed, earth- work defences were thrown up. This latter was 
no doubt intended more to exercise and instruct the troops in 
that kind of duty than out of any necessity for defence of the 
place. A regular camp was now formed, and a large piece 
of clear prairie land adjoining served well for drill and 
manoeuvring. Here constant drill was persevered in, and every 
attention given to have the regiment made efficient and ready 
to take the field. 

The regiment, since leaving New Orleans, had been in 
command of the lieutenant-colonel. Colonel H. not having 
accompanied it. 

He now arrived and took up his head-quarters in the town 
of Fort Smith, having been temporarily appointed to the 
command of the post. General M'Culloch being busily employed 
in examining the country northwards towards Missouri, through 
which the campaign was to be conducted. The latter had 
already visited our camp, inspected the regiment, and expressed 
himself highly satisfied with it, but enjoined the strictest 
attention to drill and also to the more practical parts of a 
soldier's duty, as the campaign would be an arduous one and 
through a rough country. 

Colonel H. visited the camp about three times a week, put 
the regiment through battalion drill or dress parade, and 
issued what orders he thought necessary from his head-quarters 
at Fort Smith. Here happened one of these ludicrous incidents 
which sometimes arises from oversight or from a careless or 
inexplicit way of giving orders. 

In the large armies of volunteers which were raised in 
America at this time there was much less of that deference to 
rank and military formalities and ceremonies which exists not 
only in regular armies, but pervades also the military society 
in little garrison towns and military stations in Europe in 



174 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

times of peace. Respect to rank was certainly observed and 
enforced so far as it was essential to discipline and efficiency 
and the good of the service ; but the American armies, being 
only provisional, and there being many privates in the ranks 
whose position in civil life might be higher than that of their 
field officers, this deference could not be carried to anything 
like servility. This was more applicable to that respectable 
class of volunteer regiments which composed the armies in the 
earlier part of the war than to those raised by draft or con- 
scription towards the end of it. It cannot be gainsaid that in 
point of discipline, efficiency, bravery, and general worth the 
latter could hold no place with the former. Nevertheless, men 
who become soldiers, no matter what sphere of life they may 
come from, or under what circumstances they may join 
the army, will all, I believe, acquire that propensity to 
get out of camp and have a little freedom in towns near 
where they may be quartered. The restriction of this 
liberty was always a bitter pill to our men, and it was 
considered no breach of honour to evade the rule or outwit 
the guard. 

It so happened that the spring which supplied water within 
the camp was not quite sufficient, and now, that midsummer 
was setting in and the weather dry and hot, it became alto- 
gether insufficient. Another spring was discovered some 
distance beyond the lines, to which it became necessary to go 
for water, and it was understood that a man going for water 
carrying a water pail would be allowed to pass the sentinel. 
Some, however, got into the habit of taking a pail and, 
getting past the sentinel, would hide the pail in the bushes 
and proceed to the town and enjoy themselves for a while, and 
then return and take up their pail and go into camp with the 
water, calling forth the remark sometimes that it must be a 
long distance to that well. 

Colonel H., who was something of a martinet, imagining 
one day that there were more of his men on liberty than 
should be, stopped some of them and demanded to see their 
passes. Some had none. This enraged the colonel, who, 
meeting with the major who happened to be in town, demanded 
in a rather imperious manner an explanation of such lack of 
discipline. The major replied that it was not easy to prevent 
it, as the men had to go out of the camp for water, and they 
often hid their pails and ran into the town. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 175 

" And why don't you make a corporal accompany them," 
cried the colonel. 

" It will require a special order for that," said the major. 

" You will soon have it," said the colonel. And calling his 
secretary said, " Write a special order at once, and send it out 
to the adjutant to be read on parade this evening, that no 
person shall be allowed to pass in or out of the camp unless 
accompanied by a non-commissioned officer." 

The order was read on parade that evening, and a copy of 
it stuck up at the guard house. 

Shortly after guard mounting next morning, the major 
came laughing into my tent which was close to post 
number three, which commanded the road that led into 
the town. 

"W.," said he, "I want to take my station in your tent to 
see the fun." 

" What is up ? " said I. 

" Did you not hear the order read last night ? " said he. "I 
want to see them carrying it out. Captain G. is officer of the 
day, and he is going to carry it out to the letter." 

He then directed my attention to the word "person "in the 
order. 

I saw the mistake, but remarked that it was not much. 
" But," said he, " there are some that would consider it a degra- 
dation, and I know two officers are now dressing to go to 
town, and they are two most pompous formalists, and I want 
to see them passed out, and then I want to pass out myself for 
the fun of the tiling, and when stopped by the guard I will 
apply to you for a non-commissioned officer to pass me out ; 
and I wish you to send the youngest corporal you have — has 
not little B. been made a corporal ? " 

"Yes, he has." 

" Then send him to pass me out. Had the mistake occurred 
through any one else," continued he, "it would not have been 
so much, but you know Colonel H. has such pride in his 
military knowledge, and is such a stickler for military form 
and precision in everything. Oh ! here they come," and he 
placed himself in a corner where he could see the post, and 
sat chuckling. 

I looked out, and saw two handsomely dressed officers going 
towards the road that led into the town. As they approached 
the sentinel, I imagined I could see a smile of mischievous 



176 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

satisfaction in the fellow's face ; while the major was watching 
with extreme eagerness. 

" Halt ! " exclaimed the sentinel coming to the charge. 

"What do you mean, sir?" was the reply. " Shoulder arms 
till officers pass ! " 

"I mean," said the sentinel, taking a firm position, "that 
you cannot pass." 

" How is this 1 Explain, sir ! " 

" Corporal of the guard post number three," shouts the 
sentinel. 

The corporal of the guard who had been hiding behind my 
tent came round, and as he passed the door I saw the major 
make him a sign, and he hastened towards the post. He told 
the officers that they would have to be accompanied and passed 
out by a non-commissioned officer, but other than a non-com- 
missioned officer of the guard. Such were his orders. They 
demanded to see the officer of the day, but he would only call 
the sergeant of the guard. The sergeant of the guard having 
arrived at the post, he could only reiterate what the corporal 
had spoken. They then demanded to see the officer of the 
day, but he would only call the lieutenant of the guard, deter- 
mined that they should pass through the whole routine. The 
lieutenant of the guard came, but he directed their attention 
to the order, and said his orders were imperative. They still 
demanded to see the officer of the day, and the corporal of the 
guard was sent to call him. The corporal knew very well 
where to find him, and the officer of the day soon made his 
appearance. I was wishful of hearing the row between them 
and the officer of the day, and had gone down towards the 
post, but when the officer of the day came along, he came 
alongside of me, and gave me a push, saying, " Go away out 
of that, man; they will perhaps ask you to pass them out, 
and that would spoil the fun." 

I now understood the thing better, and retired out of sight. 
They remonstrated with the officer of the day, and protested 
that it was a mere clerical error in the order. But the officer 
of the day was inexorable, and told them that they could 
easily get over the difficulty by asking a corporal to pass them 
out. This, however, they declined to do ; and they returned 
to their quarters in high dudgeon. These officers were not 
very popular in the regiment on account of their rather high 
pretensions, and the thing was much enjoyed by the other 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 177 

officers, none of whom, however, sought to go out of camp that 
day. 

The major, however, determined to have revenge on the 
colonel for his hauteur of the previous day, was resolved 
that the order should be carried out, and mounting his horse 
rode up to the post and was of course stopped by the sentinel. 
He then rode back to my tent, and asked for a non-commis- 
sioned officer to pass him out. I called Corporal B. to go and 
take the major past the sentinel, which he did amidst the 
laughter and cheers of a large number of officers and men who 
had gathered round the post. 

But the best of the fun was still to come. In about three 
hours afterwards the major returned, and a call was made for 
a non-commissioned officer to pass him in, and Corporal B. was 
ordered to go and pass in the major, which he did. 

The major was in great glee. He had learned that Colonel 
H. and General M'Culloch were going to visit the camp in 
the afternoon, and how about passing them in. The order was 
plain, but the question was. Could not Colonel H. revoke the 
order when he came to the post? The officer of the day 
thought not, and he was determined to enforce it. 

The lieutenant-colonel, being that day confined to his 
quarters from sickness, knew nothing of the affiiir till it was 
all over. 

As the time approached, battalion drill was over (I believe 
it was got past a little earlier that day on purpose), and it was 
difficult to keep a crowd from gathering near the post. At 
length the general and colonel arrived, and were stopped by 
the sentinel, who had been specially selected and instructed 
for the occasion. The colonel was furious, but the general 
requested him to be calm, and the officer of the day was sent 
for. The latter, with the written order in his hand, explained 
that his position was one of great difficulty, but the general 
rules were, that the orders to the guard should not be broken 
so far as referred to the passing of a sentinel, even if the 
person desiring to pass was the commander-in-chief himself, 
and as the officers were often sorely tempted and tried on such 
occasions, he had resolved to abide by his orders, even if he 
should afterwards be court-martialed for doing so ; and he 
added that no one would be more ready to punish for laxity of 
duty than they, the general and colonel now before him. 

The general admitted the position of the officer of the day, 

M 



178 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

and that he was justified in having doubts on the subject, and 
therefore the best way would be to carry out the orders, and 
asked liim to call a non-commissioned officer. The offi.cer of 
the day turned towards our company ground. I could see he 
had a sore struggle to contain himself ; he could not speak for 
laughing, but made a sign for a non-commissioned officer. 

" Corporal B.," said I, " go and take the general and the 
■colonel past the sentinel at post number three." 

Corporal B., who could perform his part very well, and to 
the great amusement of the by-standers, walked with a dignified 
air to the post, and passing the sentinel, went up to the general 
and colonel, who were seated on their horses about 10 yards 
outside of the sentinel, and respectfully saluting, looked up to 
their faces and said in the simplest and most compassionate 
manner, " Come and I will take you in," and he conducted 
them past, just as a servant would conduct a stranger past the 
watch-dog. 

This ludicrous position quite overcame the general, and he 
laughed outright, and was joined and cheered by the officers 
and men who had gathered near the post. 

The colonel's countenance betrayed anything but pleasant- 
ness. He felt ashamed at the unmilitary style of the wording 
of the order, which had occurred, not from any want of military 
knowledge on his part, but from his precipitancy and careless- 
ness in not reading the order before it was sent to the adjutant, 
and also from the ignorance of his secretary, who had been 
some lawyer's clerk, and, being newly appointed, wrote more 
in a legal than military style. 

A dress parade was ordered, the blundered order was revoked, 

and a new " special order, number ," was read out, which 

was worded, " Soldiers passing out of the camp for water shall 
be accompanied by a non-commissioned officer." 

When the officers marched to the front and centre the 
colonel, in saluting, slightly apologised to the officers for the 
mistake, and explained that his secretary was newly appointed 
and green to the business, and that he, being exceedingly busy 
and hurried at the moment, omitted to examine the order 
before it was sent to the adjutant, and for which he was to 
blame. " But," continued he, " we are all apt to make little 
mistakes at first, and I hope this incident will tend to show 
both you and me the great importance of being precise and 
•exact in everything and in fulfilhng our duties strictly to the 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 179 

letter. I commend the officer of the day for his strict sense of 
duty and firmness in strictly carrying out the order." 

General M'Culloch was a man about 40 years of age, of a 
well-proportioned, wiry frame, with a piercing blue eye, and a con- 
templative but firm expression of countenance. He had held 
the rank of major in the United States army, had served in 
the Mexican war, and had been much engaged in warfare with 
the Indians. He was a thoroughly practical general. He gave 
much attention to the nature of the country in which he was 
going to operate. He made himself acquainted with every 
road or passage through which an army with trains could pass 
or operate in. He examined every river, creek, ford, or bridge 
where an enemy could be checked or met to advantage. He 
took care to know where forage and supplies were to be pro- 
cured readiest, and noted where a pass could be guarded, 
defended, or stopped up, or where a bridge could be burned or 
blown up. He was an excellent horseman and a most able 
leader of rangers or irregular cavalry, and could take them 
through and over almost impassable barriers of rivers, swamps, 
hills, rocks, woods, or copses. He was not so particular about 
clock-work movements in drill or in having the ranks dressed 
straight as an arrow, but he was particular in brigade move- 
ments, that proper distances were kept, and that corps passed 
regularly in order without any doubling up or confusion, and, 
above all, that the men knew well to handle their arms and 
were good shots. Of this latter he had little to doubt, as few 
of the men, even the youngest, had this to learn after joining 
the army. He had an utter abhorrence of all red-tape and 
bureau government. Had the latter not been against him, and 
had he lived, he would have made his mark as a daring general 
and leader of a flying column. 

Towards the end of June it became well known that the 
Federal General Lyon had raised a large army and was over- 
running Missouri. That State had been divided, part of the 
population favouring the North and part favouring the South. 
General Price, the Southern leader in command of the State 
forces, had retreated to the southern part of the State, where 
he was amassing an army and was awaiting assistance from 
the Confederate Government. 

It was also reported that Federal agents were stirring up 
the Indians against the Confederates and promising them 
large grants if they would assist in putting down the rebellion ; 



180 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

also that a notorious leader from Kansas named Lane had 
raised a force of about 3000 in the Indian Territory, composed 
of Indian half-breeds and white desperadoes, and was meditating 
an attack on Fort Smith. 

Of course great vigilance was exercised, guards and outposts 
strengthened, and orders given for the troops to be ready to 
fall in at a moment's notice ; and, as it does not take much to 
raise an alarm, several alarms did take place during the night ; 
the long-roll was beat, and the regiment was quickly out and 
under arms. I believe, however, this was intended to test the 
alacrity of the men in falling in and to train them in that sort 
of thing. 

I afterwards learnt, by conversation with some men of good 
standing among the Indians, that there was not the slightest 
foundation for the report that the Federal Government had 
tried to stir up the red men against the Confederates at that 
time. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

FIRST EXPERIENCE IN MARCHING— TIMES THAT TRIED MKN'S SOLES— INCIDENTS 
OF THE MARCH — CAMP WALKER IN ARKANSAS — ADVANCE INTO MISSOURI 
—DEMONSTRATIONS OF WELCOME— MEETING THE MISSOURI STATE TROOPS 
—CONCENTRATION OF THE FORCES AT CRANE CREEK— VICINITY OF THE 
ENEMY — COLONEL M'INTOSH — SKIRMISHES WITH THE ENEMY — GENERAL 
PRICE— SCARCITY OF PRO VISIONS— NECESSITY OF FORCING THE FIGHTING. 

About the beginning of July, the regiment had got quite 
efficient for every useful purpose, and v^e received orders to 
march. 

Army waggons having been prepared for transport, at a very 
early hour on the morning of the 4th of July (the great 
American anniversary day), the waggons were brought to the 
camp, and one was allotted to each company. Tents were 
struck and packed into the waggons, with all company 
stores, cooking utensils, camp equipage, spare arms, ammuni- 
tion, and other company property. Orders having been read 
out on parade the previous evening that the line of march 
would be by way of Van Buren, crossing the Arkansas river 
there, and proceeding northward by the Evansville road, the 
men should on leaving take two days' cooked rations in their 
haversacks, and on halting for the night, the troops should not 
pitch tents but only bivouac. 

When the men went to draw rations, the commissary 
insisted on having requisitions and issue for four days. This 
the men rebelled against, which led to another squabble 
between them and the commissary. The object of the latter 
was to give the men a larger share of the provisions to carry, 
and so lighten his own waggons that he might be enabled to 
carry more goods for his own speculative purposes. 

Where we were to proceed to we had no information, but 
we understood that the Confederate Army of the West would 
assemble at Camp Walker, near Maysville, in the north-western 
extremity of the State of Arkansas, a place about 80 miles 
distant in a direct line, but about 110 miles by the road we 
would have to travel. The name Camp Walker seemed 
strange and unpleasant, and we hoped it would not be like the 



182 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

last Camp Walker. But why the name 1 Who or what were 
the two camps named after 1 The only noted personage of that 
name that we knew of was the late Filibuster Walker of 
Nicaraguan notoriety, but we did not consider him of sufficient 
fame or importance to have camps named after him. Who 
the camps were named after was of little importance to us, and 
we never knew or took the trouble to inquire further. 

The hay being taken out of the bed-sacks, and with other 
light material which had gathered, was set fire to according to 
custom. It was said at this time that an e^gj of the com- 
missary was burned in the flames, but I did not see it. 

While the refuse of the camp was burning in the dark 
morning, we formed and took up our line of march at the first 
dawn of day. We marched down the river bank until opposite 
"Van Bur en, which was on the other side of the river and some 
miles from Fort Smith. Here we waited while the waggons 
were being ferried over. 

The trains consisted of the 10 company waggons, officers' 
waggon, stafi" waggon, quarter-master's and commissary waggons 
— in all about 20 waggons, with four or six mules to each. 
Forage would be found on the road as we proceeded. 

The trains having crossed, we were ferried over two com- 
panies at a time, that being about as much as the boat could 
conveniently carry. 

All having crossed, the regiment formed on the other side 
and proceeded up the bank from the valley of the Arkansas 
river. The road lay uphill, and was very rough and stony, 
while the sun poured down with such force that the granite 
boulders by the side of the road were so hot that they could 
not be sat upon if a halt for a few minutes was called. 

The country on both sides of the road was cleared but of 
rather a poor appearance, divided into patches of Indian corn, 
enclosed by rail fences. There were no trees to afford any 
kind of shade. At length the call was sounded to halt for the 
night near a farm-house, about nine miles from the river and 
about 1 6 miles from the camp at Fort Smith, which we had left 
in the morning. The men having two days' cooked rations in 
their haversacks, the waggons were not unpacked or fires 
lighted. The men roUed themselves in their blankets and lay 
down to sleep on the side of the road. 

About half -past three the reveille was sounded, and the line 
of march was taken up at four. The object now was to get 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 183 

the march accomphshed before the intense heat of the day set 
in. The men were in no great spirits ; they had been a good 
deal fatigued, had got but a poor night's rest, and thought 
they might have been allowed to make themselves at least 
a cup of hot coffee before marching. They were given to 
understand that, as far as possible, this would be provided for 
in future ; that this was merely a halt for rest and no camp at 
all, there being no proper place to camp. 

The second day's march was worse than the first. It was 
not all uphill, but the road was very rough and the sun was 
intensely hot. Canteens were soon empty, and water was 
scarce at times, but, on the whole, the country was fairly 
supplied with water. As the sun grew hotter some of the 
men began to drop out. Always as one would show signs of 
giving out the others would laugh and cry " Played out," 
" Played out," which would induce the wearied volunteer to 
make an effort to struggle on. It was now evident that the 
men were too heavily loaded for the first start at least, not 
being yet inured to marching over such roads in such intense 
heat. A good many fell out in spite of every effort to make 
them keep up, but these men always came up an hour or two 
after we got into camp. About 2 p.m. we got to the end of 
our second day's march, about 18 miles from where we started 
in the morning. This place was more pleasing than that of 
the previous night ; a fine shady wood grew on the banks of a 
gravelly creek, down which ran a stream of beautifully clear 
water. The men were soon divested of their heavy load of 
knapsack and accoutrements. Many of them were suffering 
from sore and blistered feet from marching on the hot stony 
roads, and most of them had their boots and stockings off and 
were bathing their feet in the stream. The camp, however, 
had to be guarded to prevent the stream from pollution by the 
men washing or bathing above a certain point. Below this 
point there were some fine deep pools, which were soon filled 
with bathers and men washing parts of their clothing, which 
were saturated with dust and perspiration. 

In about two hours the waggons came up, every company 
looking out for their own waggon, which they brought up as 
near to their bivouac as possible. Cooking utensils were got 
out, rations drawn, fires lighted, and the cooking of supper 
commenced. 

The men complained of the heavy loads they had to carry, 



184 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

and, piling up the total of rifle, sabre, belt, and accoutrements, 
40 rounds of ammunition, knapsack, blanket, one day's rations, 
and canteen of water, the whole was taken to the commissary's 
scales and found to weigh 42 lbs,; but as these were the scales 
by which the commissary weighed their rations, they declared 
the result a cheat to the extent of 20 per cent, at least. 
They therefore allowed 8 lbs, off; still 34 lbs. was rather much 
to carry on such rough roads under a broiling sun. 

Arrangements were then made that the knapsacks and 
blankets might be put into the company waggon and the men 
allowed to march without them. This was a great rehef, and 
as there would always be some means of cooking at night, they 
were allowed to take in their haversacks just what provisions 
they chose. Tattoo was now dispensed with, and the men 
were allowed to go to sleep as soon as they pleased. Reveille 
was ordered to be sounded at 2 a,m., and the order of march to 
be taken up at half-past three. Very early in the night the 
men were wrapt in their blankets and fast asleep. A little 
before midnight our company was disturbed by a commotion 
in the next company, and some of the men coming over and 
lying down near our bivouac. We asked what was the matter. 
It appeared that they had formed their bivouac under a very 
large shady tree, and imagined they would be very comfortable 
for the night. But this proved no exception to the rule that 
" the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agiee." It 
seemed the tree had been already occupied by another tenant 
in the shape of a " skunk " (or pole cat), which, considering 
that he had a prior claim, threw out his fumes among the 
intruders on his domain with such effect as to cause a speedy 
retreat. 

"A pretty set of fellows you are,' said our men, "to be 
driven from your position by a skunk." " Go over there and 
try it," said they. Our men, however, were not inclined to 
encounter such an enemy, and soon all were fast asleep again. 

At half -past two reveille was sounded, the men turned out, 
and the roll was called. The men had had a good night's rest, 
but many of them were stiff and their feet so swollen and sore 
that they had to crawl up to answer to their names. Fires 
were quickly kindled, coffee made, and breakfast partaken of ; 
while some of the men fomented their feet in hot water to 
enable them to get on their boots. 

Cooking utensils, spare rations, knapsacks, and blankets 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 185 

were packed into the waggons and all covered over carefully 
and strapped down. The line was formed, and at half-past 
three the bugle sounded the advance. The morning was cool 
and pleasant for marching, but it was very dark, and that was 
-a great disadvantage. 

The road, if it might be so called, was full of deep ruts, 
stumps, and large stones. Of course the men marched " Route 
step " and " Arms-at-will," but the darkness did not allow them 
to see the stumps and stones, and their feet, sore and tender, 
often struck against them, causing some poor fellows to suffer 
the most excruciating pain, which was made more vexatious by 
the laughing taunts of their comrades, such as, "Kick that 
stump again, man;" "You haven't knocked it out yet;" or, 
" Give that stone another kick and knock it out of the way." 

As daylight set in the men could see their way better, and 
their feet got a little easier as they got seasoned by walking, 
and camp was reached about one o'clock. 

This was also a fine place for camping on the banks of a 
creek considerably larger than the last. The banks of a creek 
were always selected, if possible, for camp, as it afforded a 
plentiful supply of water ; due precaution being taken to 
encamp on that side which would be most favourable for the 
army to be on, should a rise of the water take place during 
the night and render it unfordable, as frequently took place 
in this part of the country. The marks on the banks of this 
creek, as in most others, showed that it was subject to 
sudden rises and overflows. 

The same routine was here gone through in cooking, wash- 
ing, bathing, etc., and some of the boys succeeded in catching 
some fine fish, with which the stream abounded. The men 
were now beginning to learn the business and suit themselves 
to the work, and were making great progress in foraging and 
cooking. The rations served out was flour, which they had to 
make into bread themselves, for which purpose they had to 
provide themselves with skillets, which they used as ovens ; 
and they soon learned to make excellent bread or biscuits, as 
they were called, the quahty being, no doubt, greatly improved 
by a sharp appetite, with which they were all particularly well 
supplied by the fine air of the country and the marching and 
exercise. 

Having here enjoyed another good night's rest, the men 
were in better condition than the previous morning. Boots 



186 LIFE IN THE CONFEDEEATE ARMY. 

had been eased or changed, and their feet had somewhat 
recovered, but a toilsome march was this day before them — to 
cross Boston Mountain. This was a high mountain, probably 
the lowest one of a range which extends along the north- 
western part of Arkansas, and over which the road passed. 

About 10 o'clock we reached the foot of this mountain, and 
were about three miles from the top. The ascent was steep 
and toilsome. The sun was intensely hot, and the road was 
very bad, with deep holes, rocks, stones, and stumps, and we 
wondered how the waggons would ever get over it. A number 
of men had been detailed to assist in getting them past the 
worst places, but it was a heavy task to get them over. We 
at length reached the top, hot and fatigued. 

The descent on the other side did not begin at once. There 
was a considerable extent of undulating tableland, and, as 
soon as the left of the regiment had got up, a halt was called 
for rest and to be ready in case more men were wanted to 
assist in getting the waggons up the hill. The mountain was 
wooded to the top, and, there being some shade, a little rest 
was enjoyed. After great toil and exertion the waggons were 
got up, and we marched on and descended on the other side. 
We were later of getting into camp that day, but were all 
pleased that we had got over one bad part of the journey. 
Our next day's march showed a little difference in the appear- 
ance of the country. As we got more northwards vegetation 
seemed to be a little later, and the country was getting to 
have a more northern appearance. Wheat and oats were now 
to be seen in the fields. The large, rich brambleberries, which 
grow in great abundance along the roads, which we had been 
enjoying, and which on the south side of the mountain range 
were dead ripe and falling off the bushes, were on this — the 
north side — scarcely ripe. The country, however, seemed more 
fertile and was more thickly settled. The woods were 
mostly of oak trees, and great numbers of pigs, in a semi- 
wild state, roamed in them at large. These animals had 
belonged to the different settlers, but being turned into the 
woods to feed on roots and acorns, with the optional order, as 
it was said, to " Root, hog, or die," these animals had bred in 
these woods and had become partially ^vild, and were strictly 
the property of no one, or, as it might be said, they had with 
a true American instinct disavowed their allegiance to anyone 
and declared their independence. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 187 

Day after day the march now became pleasanter, and we 
were getting used to it, and marches of from 15 to 20 miles 
a day we accomplished easily. 

The country now was beautiful; interspersed with fine 
woods and small prairies, through which ran many fine 
streams and pebbly brooks ; and many fine springs of water 
ran from the mountain sides. 

That part of a soldier's duty which implies a regard for 
number one the boys learned very rapidly, and generally one 
or two provided with money would contrive to drop out of 
the line and visit the farm-houses and make purchases. The 
farmers being far from a market, produce was plentiful and 
money scarce, and they were glad to sell ; and such things as 
fowls, eggs, butter, milk, potatoes, venison, etc., could be 
bought cheap. I have seen a fine turkey bought for a quarter 
of a dollar. This was the first time that an army, or indeed 
any large body of men, had \dsited the country, and the rustic 
settlers little knew what was to follow. 

In the meantime the strictest orders had been issued against 
any plundering, damaging of property, or molesting the inhabi- 
tants in any way. 

About this time the first violation of this order took place,. 
and the transgressors were quickly punished, although in rather 
an odd manner. 

A few days after passing Boston Mountain we camped in a 
wood near to which was a large field of oats, part of which 
had been cut down and was in shocks. The ground where we 
lay was covered with stones and gravel and a little hard to 
rest upon. 

Some of the boys, unlike Jacob and less honestly disposed, 
were not inclined to use stones for their pillow, and, casting a 
longing eye on the shocks of oats, thought that a sheaf would 
answer the purpose much better. 

Accordingly when darkness set in one or two of them sallied 
out and securing one or two sheaves soon made themselves a 
comfortable bed ; and as one sickly sheep infects the flock, the 
temptation was great and many others followed their example 
and lay down on the fragrant oats, and soon afterwards all 
were in silent repose. 

Some time before midnight I was woke up by a loud cry 
from a man near to me, and springing up I saw him struggling 
as if to retain hold of something, and he was dragged off' 



188 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

seemingly by the neck by some unseen foe. I sprang to his 
assistance, but ere I discovered who his assailant was some- 
thing gave way and some monster disappeared in the darkness. 

Before I had time to think, my attention was attracted 
by the whole camp in commotion. And there was such a 
tremendous rustling, struggling, grunting, squealing, swearing, 
intermixed with imprecations, exclamations, and loud shouts 
of laughter, and such expressions as " Oh, man, don't hurt the 
pig, you might be a pig yourself one of those days." I knew 
from this that it was nothing serious. Some of my comrades 
began to wake up and rub their eyes, when suddenly a pig in 
a state of frenzy rushed into the circle in which we lay, and 
running over some of the sleeping men dashed right up 
against me, showing that pigs don't see well in the dark. 
Half stupified and scarcely knowing what I did, I dealt the 
brute a tremendous blow with my fist, which sent it reeling 
away from me. Whether the animal had been previously 
wounded, or whether the blow fell upon some vital part, I do 
not know, but it staggered back and fell dead right across the 
neck of our captain, who lay snoring near me. 

" What the de^dl is that 1 " roared the captain, as he 
struggled to get up from under the load. 

" A pig," said one of the men, as he pulled the dead animal 
off him ; " and it is dead, too." 

" A pig," said the captain. " Where did it come from ? 
Who killed it 1 " 

" I don't know," said the man ; "it ran over the top of me 
and up against the sergeant, and he struck it a blow with his 
fist and killed it." 

" Killed it with his fist ! Impossible." 

" Yes, he did," said the man ; " I saw him do it." 

" Killed a pig with his fist ! Well, now, that's good," said 
the captain. " If the sergeant killed that pig with his fist, I 
would just advise you to take care of that fist, that's all," and 
he rolled over and went to sleep again. 

The cause of the whole disturbance can be easily explained. 
A herd of pigs, which had been roaming in the woods, 
attracted by the smell of the fresh oats which the men were 
lying upon, and probably by the dirty garb and loud snoring of 
the men imagined in the darkness that they were of their own 
species that lay upon the oats. They therefore, without ceremony, 
began to feast upon the oats, inserting their snouts under the 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 18^ 

sleepers, and rolling them over to get at the provender. Many 
of the men, being considerably fatigued, slept so soundly 
that they never woke up, but were rooted over and over by 
the pigs, and had their bed eaten up without their knowing 
anything about it. Others, waking up, attacked and drove off 
the pigs, which, in their fright, ran against other sleepers and 
woke them up, until the whole camp was in commotion. A 
young man in our company was the possessor of an exceedingly 
good appetite, and to gratify it was one of his greatest cares. 
He was the son of a small farmer, and one of his greatest 
luxuries was corn bread, to which he had no doubt been much 
accustomed in his childhood. As yet this had not been a part of 
the army rations, and Preston, or Press, as he was called, 
seemed much to miss his favourite food, and when he could get 
an opportunity would purchase it at some of the farm- 
houses along the road. Press was, however, subjected to much 
annoyance from some of the younger members of the company 
who, partly out of a similar fondness for the article, and partly 
for mischief, took delight in making raids into liis haversack. 
It seemed that on that day Press had succeeded in obtaining 
a fine supply of corn bread, and fearing that some of his 
mischievous comrades would be making inroads into his haver- 
sack, he took the precaution, when lying down to sleep, to keep 
it by him with the strap passed over the shoulder as usual. 
When the pigs entered the camp, the smell of the corn bread, 
once encountered, was no doubt the greatest attraction, and as 
the law of might is right even among pigs, a big fierce grunter 
soon drove off the smaller fry, and seizing the haversack in its 
jaws, endeavoured to carry it off, dragging the o^vner with it. 
The haversack was torn and the corn bread scattered on the 
ground, which Preston proceeded to eat forthwith lest some 
other attack should be made on it. The camp was soon quiet, 
and the men fast asleep again, but that night's disturbance 
created a hostile feeling between the regiment and the pigs 
which led to open war, and many a fine grunter was roasted 
in revenge for that night's aggression, and General M'CuUoch 
once rebuking them afterwards for their action towards the 
pigs, told them he believed he would rather be a " Federal " 
than a pig in presence of the 3rd Louisiana Regiment. 

About two days after this incident we reached Camp 
Walker, having had now a little addition to our training in the 
way of marching and bivouacking. 



190 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Camp Walker, like Fort Smith, was on the border of the 
Indian Territory. On a slightly rising ground in the middle of 
a fine open prairie several square miles in extent, there 
were some newly erected wooden buildings like a barracks, 
from which rose a very high flag-pole, carrying an enormous 
Confederate flag. On the edges of the woods surrounding the 
prairie were rows of tents showing the encampments of 
difierent -regiments and corps from Arkansas and Texas, while 
on the prairie detachments of cavalry and artillery were 
manoeuvring. We marched across the country greeted with 
the usual cheers of welcome, and our camp was laid out in the 
north-west corner of the prairie. A regular camp was here 
formed, waggons were unpacked and tents pitched. Here we 
were to remain for a few days until the whole army should be 
ready to march into Missouri. 

The army waggons were now sent away to accumulate stores 
at Fayetteville, that town being now an advanced depot for 
supplies. 

Troops continued to arrive from difierent parts of Arkansas 
and Texas, and company, battalion, and brigade drill was per- 
severed in, and various extended manoeuvi^es on the prairie of 
foot, horse, and artillery were gone through, and several detach- 
ments of mounted infantry were reconnoitring the country 
northwards. 

Here we learned that the Federal army had advanced into 
the south of Missouri, and had had some engagements with the 
State troops under General Price. 

After remaining here about 10 days' drilling and preparing, 
we received orders to march. Tents were struck, waggons 
packed, and we were again on the move. 

We proceeded eastward, passing through the town of Ben- 
ton ville, other regiments proceeding by different routes. The 
object of different corps marching by various routes when not 
immediately in front of the enemy was to obtain forage and 
supplies easier and harass the country less by spreading the 
demand more over it. We bivouacked at night and proceeded 
in the early morning as before. After passing through Ben- 
ton ville we turned northward and crossed the line into Missouri, 
and the second day after crossing the line we passed through 
the town of Cassville. Here we were received with loud 
cheering and great demonstrations of welcome. But I, for 
one, put very little faith in these demonstrations ; they were 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 191 

things that were easily got up, and were generally composed 
of the scum and rabble, and, though that class might be 
sometimes fairly represented in them, yet they were often far 
from being expressive of the true sentiments of the people. 

After passing Cassville we came up with a part of Price's 
army of Missouri State troops. These men seemed to out- 
demonstrate all the demonstrations we had yet seen ; for, in 
their excitement of cheering and firing of salutes, they exploded 
a barrel of gunpowder, which blew some of themselves into the 
air. Whether this was by accident or intentional we never 
learned, but we considered such displays of zeal to be quite 
overstepping the thing. 

Some three days after passing Cassville we halted and camped 
for a few days at a place called Sugar Creek. This halt was to 
allow the other forces to come up and concentrate. 

While here we heard from the Missouri troops of their 
engagement with the Federal troops at Carthage, and of 
M'Culloch having captured 500 prisoners at Neosheo. We 
also heard here of the rout of the Federal army at Bull Run, 
and that the Federal General Lyon was at Springfield, about 
35 miles distant, with a force of nearly 20,000 men, a con- 
siderable number of whom were United States troops and part 
of the regular army. 

The difierent corps now began to come up, and the forces 
were kept closer together. 

Our total force was now, of Confederate troops under General 
M'Culloch, about 5000 infantry, 2000 cavalry or mounted 
infantry, and two batteries of artillery of six guns each — in 
all, about 7400 of all arms. These were all ef&cient troops, 
well armed, and fairly disciplined. 

Of Missouri State troops under General Price there were 
about 8000 men of all arms. Of these about 3000 were 
mounted infantry and one battery of artillery. About half of 
this force was well armed, the rest being supplied with flint- 
lock muskets, hunting rifles, and double-barrel shot-guns. They 
were very enthusiastic, but seemed to have more zeal than 
discipline. 

All the forces and trains being now forward, we received orders 
to advance. Troops to bivouac at night ; no tents to be taken 
except one for each company to keep arms and ammunition 
dry in case of rain. 

We were now declared to be in the vicinity of the enemy, 



192 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

and the strictest caution and vigilance were enjoined. Our 
regiment was assigned to the post of honour on the right, and 
our company on the right of the regiment acted as advanced 
guard. 

About two days afterwards it was reported that the enemy 
was advancing to meet us, and we took a position at a place 
called Crane Creek. This creek was a fine clear stream, and 
along the banks was a good deal of level ground suitable for 
camping, the creek supplying abundance of water. The position 
was a good one for defence, surrounded by hilly land covered 
with wood. The approach from the north by which the enemy 
must come was by a broad road, on both sides of which was 
high ground, steep and rugged in many places and covered 
with small wood of oak, hickory, and hazel. On the high 
ground on both sides of this road our lines were to be formed 
in case of an attack. We found that the enemy had advanced 
to within seven miles of our position, and the advanced pickets 
of both armies were within a short distance of each other. 

We were in an excellent position for acting on the defensive, 
but, being far from our base of operation, our supplies were 
getting short, and the army was subsisting chiefly upon green 
corn obtained from the neighbouring fields, and it soon became 
evident that we must force the fighting. Every device was 
tried to induce the enemy to make the attack, but they were 
not to be caught, and, seeming to guess at our position, tried 
every means to induce us to attack them, and skirmishes 
frequently took place. They made several feints and drove in 
our pickets, and once or twice every day we would be called 
out to take our position. 

The enemy had some excellent cavalry — dragoons of the 
United States regular army. These would follow up our 
pickets almost to our lines, but managed, owing to the nature 
of the country, to keep out of the range of our artillery. 

I had often heard my Scotch friend, P., who had been 
appointed drum-major, but still messed with and was a member 
of our company, speak in very high terms of a certain Captain 
M'Intosh, a captain of cavalry in the United States army, 
under whom he had formerly served. This gentleman he 
described as a most able and gallant officer, of Scotch parentage, 
but born in the State of Florida, who, when secession took 
place, resigned his commission and ofiered his services to the 
South. P. had learned that he was with the Army of the 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 193 

"West, and was colonel of one of the Arkansas regiments. P. 
was very anxious to see him, and wished he was here now. 

A few days after we took up this position a call was made 
for a party of riflemen to go with a detachment to the front. 
Our company was selected ; and the detachment was made up 
of the left flank skirmishing company, and three other com- 
panies of the regiment — in all about 500 men. When we 
were ready to march out great was the joy of P. when he saw 
that the officer going to take command of the detachment was 
Colonel M'Intosh. 

Colonel M'Intosh was a true type of the real Scottish 
gentleman, such as might have been found about the 
beginning of the present century, free from all the adul- 
terations and pedantic display of modern refinement. 
His every action betokened the officer and the gentleman. 
He was plain and affable in his manner, but his look was 
sufficient to command respect and obedience. Of the genuine 
clan of the M'Intosh, born and raised in the South, educated 
at " "West Point " and trained in the United States army, and 
often engaged in Indian warfare, he seemed to have been 
selected by the general as his right-hand man. Having 
inspected the detachment, he examined our rifles, asked if we 
were good shots with them, and said he would give us an 
opportunity of trying our hands. He recognised P., for whom 
he seemed to have had some regard, and expressed his joy at seeing 
him. P., in the best manner he could, introduced me to him ; 
and we marched out on the road towards the enemy's camp. 
My position was, of course, with the captain at the right or 
head of the company ; and this was also the general position of 
the commander of the detachment. 

Colonel M'Intosh, having dismounted and given his horse to 
an orderly, came and walked on the right and entered into 
conversation. He asked me how long since I had left Scot- 
land, and much about it. He seemed to have great pride in 
his Scotch descent, and said he hoped that I and the other 
Scotchmen would do honour to our race. 

When we had got a short distance beyond our pickets 
the report of a rifle was heard some distance in front. " What 
is that 1 " said Colonel M'Intosh ; " that can't be the enemy's 
pickets, or else they have shifted them forward." 

A party of mounted infantry from Price's division had been 
out reconnoitring that morning, and had been driven in by 



194 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

the enemy's cavalry. Colonel M'Intosh ordered the detachment 
to close up and be in readiness. Another shot was heard, and, 
coming to a turn of the road, we saw a solitary man of Price's 
division standing on the road loading his rifle. 

" That is one of Price's stupid fools," said Colonel M'Intosh ; 
and, going up to the man, said, " What are you doing there 1 
Was that you that was firing ? " 

" Yes," said the man, as he proceeded to ram a ball down 
into a rifle barrel nearly as thick as his arm with a bore that 
would scarcely admit a pea. 

" What are you firing at ? " said the colonel. 

" At the enemy," said the man. 

" Where is the enemy ? " said the colonel ; " I see no enemy." 

" You go up to where yon scrub oaks are," said the man, 
pointing to a wooded hill about three miles distant, " and you 
will see plenty of them." 

By this time the head of Churchhill's regiment of mounted 
infantry, which was in our rear, came up. Colonel M'Intosh 
laughed at the man's simplicity and ordered him back to the 
camp, as he might fire at some of our own forces. 

We were soon after deployed among the brushwood of a 
rocky ridge which skirted the road on one side, while Church- 
hill's regiment moved up the road. The object, we were now 
told, was that Churchhill would make an attack on the enemy's 
outposts and drive them in, which would bring on their cavalry, 
while Churchhill would retreat back along the road followed by 
them, and they would thus be drawn under our fire. The diffi- 
culty would now be to distinguish friend from foe, but Colonel 
M'Intosh had given strict orders to each company not to fire 
until he gave the order, which would be when the rear of 
Churchhill's regiment had passed the left of the detachment. 

I have often thought from this and other incidents that it 
is proper that soldiers, particularly volunteers, should know 
something of the programme that is to be carried out and 
what is the plan their commanders are acting upon, as no dis- 
cipline in the world will provide against mistakes or accidents. 
The officer whose orders are awaited may fall at the first fire, 
or an order may be misunderstood, as after the firing com- 
mences it is difficult to make orders heard. 

In about half-an-hour after we had taken our position we 
heard firing both of artillery and small arms, and soon after 
heard the sound of cavalry retreating down the road, and they 






LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 195 

were soon passing in front of us. It was Churchhill's regiment. 
They were in good order, and the enemy's cavalry was follow- 
ing them up. The rear of their regiment had passed our right 
and we looked for their pursuers. Fortunately there was some 
distance between the pursued and the pursuers, otherwise it 
would have been very difficult to distinguish between them 
on account of the dust. They did come, and whether they 
suspected anything or not I do not know, but before they 
were half way along our concealed line they halted and 
wheeled. Colonel M'Intosh nevertheless coolly waited until 
Churchhill's regiment had passed, and then gave the order to 
fire. The clouds of dust somewhat obscured the view, but 
the boys delivered their fire steadily and effectually, and a 
good many saddles were emptied. They wheeled in some 
confusion, some of the troops in the rear discharging their 
carabines amongst us. The bullets rattled among the bushes 
but did no harm, and in a few minutes they were off out of 
sight. Some of Churchhill's men returned to try and pick up 
some of the riderless horses, but most of them had followed 
their friends. They only got one or two that were not wounded. 
We were now ordered back to camp, quite pleased at having 
had a brush with the enemy. Some of the farmers in the 
neighbourhood were employed to bury the dead and attend to 
the wounded or take them back to their own camp. 

Next morning the enemy advanced with artillery and shelled 
the woods on both sides of the road. From this it was sup- 
posed that they were going to advance in force, and we were 
drawn out in position to receive them. 

Our company was posted to hold a narrow pass on the 
outside of the hill, to the right and a little in front of our 
position, through which a part of the enemy's force might pass 
and attempt to turn our right flank. When we had taken 
this position I was sent by the captain to place some pickets 
in front near the road. While engaged in this duty General 
M'CuUoch came along, accompanied by a stout farmer-looking 
old gentleman dressed in a suit of white linen clothes, not over 
clean, who I took to be one of the farmers of the neighbour- 
hood the general was often talking with about the roads, 
passes, and the country in general. 

The general asked me what I was doing, and having told 
him, he gave me some directions about placing the pickets, 
telling me to keep them a little further back from the road 



196 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

and more out of sight, and, although the enemy passed on the 
road, to be certain not to fire unless they tried to enter the 
pass. The old gentleman then said something to the general 
which I did not hear, but the general turned to me and said, 
" Remember that there is a body of our own troops to come 
in first ; take care that you don't fire upon them." 

" How are we to distinguish our own men from the enemy ? " 
said I. " The enemy's troops that we saw yesterday were so 
covered over with dust and dirt that we could not tell them 
from our own men." 

" That is a compliment to your own men," said the old man, 
laughing. "But there should be something to distinguish 
them, — a piece of white cloth tied round every man's left arm 
would do very well." 

"Yes," said the general, "that will do very well, and it 
should be done ; they can tear up a tent or something." 

I did not like the idea of tearing up our only tent, and I 
asked the old gentleman whom I took to be a farmer, whether 
he thought we could not get an old white shirt or two. 

"I can't give you any," said he, "unless I give you the one 
I have on, and it is not very white ; " and that was true. 

"Tut," said the general to me, "that is General Price you 
are talking to." 

I laughed and apologised. He laughed and said it was all 
right. 

General Price had been Governor of the State of Missouri, 
but having taken part with the South, he was driven out by the 
Federal army, and had taken the field with the State troops, 
and such followers as he could raise. 

He was a shrewd man and had some military experience, 
having served in the Mexican war. He was a good deal of a 
politician and courted popularity, and his object and policy 
were now to gather to his standard as many men as possible, 
and to win over the sympathy of the population of the State, 
and get the State to declare in favour of the South. 

It was a part of his division that General M'CuUoch 
referred to, when he said that a body of our own troops was 
to come in first, and we were to take care not to fire upon 
them. This was a body of some 2000 mounted infantry that 
had gone out to make a feint attack upon the enemy's forces, 
supposed to be advancing, and draw them on to attack our 
position. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 197 

Towards the afternoon we heard cannonading in the direc- 
tion in which we supposed the attack was to be made ; and not 
long after the sound of the retreating force was heard, and 
on they came — not in good order like Churchhill's regiment, 
but in a regular stampede. They had met a pretty strong 
force of the enemy who had thrown a few shrapnels amongst 
them which sent them back in confusion. They were in a sort 
of panic, and reported the enemy advancing at least 30,000 
strong. They were laughed at and jeered for their precipitous 
retreat. Of course they could not have stood, nor was it 
expected they should, but it was suggested that they might 
have retreated in good order as Churchhill's regiment had done. 

Not liking to be laughed at, and having recovered from their 
momentary panic, they were quite ready to face the enemy 
again, which, they assured us, we would all now have an 
opportunity of doing as they were advancing in tremendous 
force, and all awaited now the expected attack. 

The artillery was in position and everything in readiness, 
but no enemy approached. Scouts came in about sunset and 
reported that the enemy had fallen back to their original 
position. 

Strong guards and advanced pickets were put out, and the 
main body retired to their bivouacs near the creek, but no 
supplies had yet come forward. The men had had little or 
nothing to eat all day, and two ears of green corn served out 
to each was all they could get. This was roasted and a part 
of it eaten for supper, and part reserved for the morning's 
breakfast ; and with a drink of water from the creek, and the 
ever-solacing smoke the men rolled themselves in their blankets 
and stretched themselves on the grass. We had one conso- 
lation, it was fine weather — the beginning of August. No 
rain, the nights warm ; no mosquitoes ; and never did we 
€njoy sweeter nights' rest than rolled in our blankets on the 
green grass under a tree with the branches just sufficient to 
break the bright glare of the moon or stars in our eyes. 

At daybreak, we were aroused by a firing along the outposts 
of the camp, and the beating of the long roll. We were soon 
up and formed, and if we did not get our faces washed, we 
got our feet wet, in dashing through the creek in our sudden 
rush to the front, where we were soon in our position of the 
previous day. 

It turned out to be nothing. A small force of the enemy's 



198 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

cavalry had, during the dark of the morning, crept down the 
road, driven in the advanced pickets, and approached to the 
inner line, and were of course driven back ; and as one rascal 
who was taken prisoner coolly said, they had just come along 
to say good morning and see how we were getting on, apologise 
for not having visited us on the pre\dous day, and hoped we 
had been put to no inconvenience. 

It was now well known to the enemy that M'Culloch seldom 
kept prisoners, but took their arms, then their names and 
every mark for identification, and paroled them, saying he 
would rather fight them than feed them, and let them go, 
assuring them that if caught in arms again, unless previously 
exchanged, he would hang them on the first tree ; and it was 
supposed that this fellow was not such a fool as he pretended 
to be, and most likely he had contrived to make his horse 
stumble and himself fall and be made prisoner on purpose that 
he might inspect our force and position and take his chance of 
getting away with the information. What was done with the 
fellow I do not know, but no doubt good care was taken that 
he would not be allowed to make his escape until his informa- 
tion would be of no value. 

We returned to the bivouac, but where was the prospect of 
getting anything for breakfast ? Some had a little coffee which 
they had bought and preserved, some contrived to obtain at a 
very high price a small quantity of flour from some of the 
commissary staff", but the main food was green corn, which was 
brought in from the fields in waggons, and even that was 
limited ; and many had for breakfast nothing but the remains 
of the two ears of corn issued to them the previous evening, 
which they boiled and ate, and drank the water it was boiled 
in by way of a hot beverage in place of coffee, some declaring 
it was not so bad after all. 

The men, however, were getting tired of this work, and no 
doubt M'Culloch saw that he must force the fighting. He had 
made some successful raids with the Texas Rangers, and cut 
off* some of the enemy's detachments, but the enemy had now 
concentrated their forces and could attack him with their 
whole strength at any moment, and they were advantageously 
posted with Springfield, their base of operations, in their rear, 
only a few miles distant, with abundance of supplies, and they 
could quietly remain at ease and act on the defensive. 

On the other hand, we were about 150 miles from our base 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 19& 

of operations, and had but few supplies even there. A wild 
country and almost impassable roads lay between us, and the 
animals for transport were giving out. The troops had thus 
to subsist on green corn, which was causing diarrhoea to break 
out amongst them. 

The general had expected to get intelligence of the enemy's 
strength and movements through General Price, who was 
supposed to be very popular among the people, at least in the 
southern part of the State, and many of his political friends 
were often visiting him, professing great zeal in the cause, and 
that at great risk to their personal safety they gave information 
of the strength and movements of the enemy. M'CuUoch 
began to find out that this information was not always to be 
relied upon, and it often conflicted with that obtained through 
his own scouts, and he had but little faith in the honour or 
integrity of politicians, and ultimately would not act on such 
information. The sequel showed that he was right, but this 
matter led to an estrangement between him and General Price 
which never was healed, but continued to increase, and was 
disastrous to the Confederate cause west of the Mississippi, 
and led to the abandonment of its defence by the Confederate 
Government. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

A SOLEMN MARCH BY NIGHT— A DESEETED CAMP— JUDGING THE STEENGTH 
OP THE LION FEOM THE APPEAEANCE OF HIS DEN — FOLLOWING UP THE 
ENEMY- A TOILSOME DAY AND A COMFORTLESS NIGHT— AEEIVAL AT 
WILSON'S CEEEK — LADY VISITORS TO THE CAMP — PEEPARATIONS FOE A 
NIGHT ATTACK — ANOTHEE POSTPONEMENT. 

A DECISIVE battle was now the only thing that would alter 
this state of matters and make them either better or worse, 
and it was not without some shade of satisfaction that in the 
evening it became known that such a course was determined 
upon. Orders were quietly given to the captains and orderly 
sergeants of companies to have arms inspected and the men 
supplied with ammunition and be ready at nine o'clock to 
march forward and attack the enemy. It was evident that 
M'Culloch intended to surprise them by a night attack on 
their position. 

There is something trying in the quiet solemn whisperings 
in the dark when preparing for a night attack, which might 
have tried the nerves of more experienced troops than ours, 
knowing as they did the hazardous nature of the undertaking ; 
but they all seemed to be pervaded with a resigned and stern 
determination, and never did I see them take their places with 
more order and obedience and seeming sense of duty. 

Our regiment, as usual, was to be on the right and our 
company on the right of the regiment. We formed and 
marched out of our bivouac and halted, waiting till the other 
companies were ready that we might form line. The strictest 
silence prevailed — not a word was spoken. 

While we stood there in the darkness the orderly sergeant 
of the left flank company (who, by-the-bye, was the same 
military sprig who had at New Orleans made such a ready 
and careless report to the adjutant, and who was full of 
mischief and animal spirits even at this time) left his position 
in the ranks for a moment, and running over to where I stood, 
and, pulling me by the sleeve, said in a half -joking way : 
" W., } ")u are a very good fellow, but better you than me to 
be on the right to-night. Good-bye, old fellow." 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 201 

It was very true that my place would be with the captain 
on the right of the company, and we would be the first to 
advance and approach the enemy, and had the Federals been 
aware of our approach and advanced one or two pieces of 
artillery down the road, or had infantry been awaiting in 
ambush, we stood a fair chance of being the first to be swept 
ofi*. However, I expected that precautions would be taken to 
guard against that, and probably Price's division would 
advance by some other route and the troops would deploy into 
the woods, and by a preconcerted signal the attack would be 
made simultaneously. 

A few minutes after 9 o'clock the column moved forward 
in silence. Not a sound was to be heard but the steady tramp 
of the troops, and never did I see them march so steady or 
soldierlike. Some clicking of canteens against the hilts of 
sabres was immediately checked and suppressed, and the silence 
and steadiness of that march in the dark night up that soHtary 
road, hned on each side with the black frowning woods, seemed 
truly grand. 

I could never lay claim to extraordinary courage, and could 
never be accused of exposing myself needlessly and recklessly 
to the fire of the enemy, and I may say that I was always on 
the whole happiest when I was out of danger ; but it seems to 
me that there are times when a man has not entirely free will 
or control over his sentiments. His courage may be stirred 
up by some great circumstance or necessity of the moment, 
and every other thought or consideration is forgotten ; and 
such, I thought, that night pervaded these men. For myself, 
it seemed plain, from my position, that I was going to almost 
certain destruction ; and yet, I think, I never in my life 
walked with such pride as I marched on that occasion at the 
head of the column. 

By our side rode the colonel, who sometimes went back along 
the line to see if the files were keeping closed up, and occa- 
sionally the general came up and rode by us ; but the utmost 
silence was maintained, and anything said was in a very low 
tone. 

When we had gone a certain distance we supposed we were 
near the enemy's pickets. The general quietly ordered a halt, 
and asked for about six men to act as scouts. I walked along 
the company, and asked for six men to volunteer to go to the 
front. More than a dozen were forward in a minute. The 



202 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

first was H., a man very low in stature and a tailor by pro- 
fession. The general looked at him and said, " You mil do 
fine as to size, but tell me this, my man, are you afraid of 
being shot by the enemy?" 

" No, d n 'em," said H. 

" You will do," said the general. 

He then selected the rest, choosing men small of stature, 
who would not be so easily seen, and could creep softly through 
the brushwood. More wanted to go, but he would only allow 
six. He, however, allowed two more to go in rear of the 
others, so as to report back quickly anytliing they saw. He 
then gave them orders to go away ahead, three on each side — 
one on the very edge of the road under the dark shade of the 
woods, the other two to extend some distance from the road 
into the woods on each side. They proceeded on in front, and 
he ordered the column to advance very slowly. 

I confess I now felt a little relieved, for I had for the last 
quarter of an hour been expecting a volley of grape-shot being 
sent down the road to greet our arrival, and, notwithstanding 
my pride at my position that night, I had a particular anti- 
pathy to grape-shot ; and if the enemy had lined the ridges on 
the side of the road with riflemen, and given us a salute as we 
passed, it would have been nothing more than a due respect to 
the compliment we had paid them two days previously. 

We kept marcliing on slowly, the scouts reporting back that 
they had seen nothing. At length said the colonel, " This 
looks suspicious ; we must have passed their picket guard." 
This implied that they had been aware of our approach and 
drawn in their pickets, or that the picket guard had discovered 
us and retired in silence ; in either case they would be ready 
to receive us. The general, in the meantime, had gone back 
to give some orders about the artillery, as I supposed. 

At length we came to an opening which looked down upon 
a creek about 80 yards distant. A quiet halt was made. The 
colonel looked puzzled, and turning to me he said, "Will you 
get a trusty man to slip quietly down to that creek and ascer- 
tain in which direction it runs ? " 

" I will go myself," said I. And going softly down to the 
creek, I put my hand into the water to ascertain which way 
the current ran. Having satisfied myself, I looked around. 
It was an open space, not unlike Crane Creek which we had 
left. Suddenly I saw a dark figure moving a little way up 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 203 

the creek, and by the reflection of the stars upon the water I 
discovered our friend H., the scout, who was placing his foot 
on a stone to step over. 

" Is that you, H. ? " said I. 

" Yes. Who is that ? You, Sergeant 1 " 

" Yes. Have you seen anything ? " 

" Nothing at all," said he ; " but I heard a dog barking 
over there." 

" Stay a moment," said I, " till I come back." 

A strong smell of wood burning came from the opposite side 
of the creek, but all was quiet. I went back to the colonel 
and reported : " The water runs from the right of the road to 
the left of the road." 

" Are you sure of that ? " said the colonel. 

" I am quite sure," said I. " The creek is clearly defined, 
and cuts the road at right angles." 

" There is a mistake somewhere," said the colonel. " Come 
down with me." 

The colonel dismounted and we went down to the creek 
together. The colonel pondered : " There is something wrong 
somewhere. But," said he, " this must be their camp ; don't 
you smell the rotten meat ? " 

I did smell it a^nd burning wood. I now saw H., the scout, 
and motioned him to approach. I went with him a short 
distance and found it was a camp but newly deserted. The 
camp fires were still burning and the debris lay thick about. 
I went back and told the colonel. He pondered and supposed 
they had withdrawn to a position in the rear of their camp, 
and he went back to see the general. 

I followed up the bank to my place at the head of the 
column. I there found the colonel in conversation with the 
general. I heard the general say, "They must have retreated, 
for there is no other position they could take up of any value 
near that camp, or for some miles beyond it." 

The men now drew a long breath ; the immediate prospects 
of a battle were again dispelled. 

It was now long past midnight. The troops were ordered 
to lie down on their arms and rest till daylight. 

To be on the right of an advancing column, though perhaps 
attended with a little more danger, has some advantages. In 
hot dry weather you are out of the crowd, have room for 
marching, and are free from the stifling dust. You have also the 



204 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

first chance of getting clean water from the springs or creeks 
on the road, before it has been disturbed by the crowd in the 
crush to obtain it. You have also an opportunity of knowing 
what is going on by seeing clear in front and being amongst 
the leading commanders, observing their movements and hear- 
ing their conversation. 

As soon as day dawned I got up, and with the captain 
went to have a look at the enemy's deserted camp. There, 
already minutely inspecting it, were General M'CuUoch, Colonel 
M'Intosh, and our own colonel, H. Many of the camp fires 
were still smouldering, and the officers seemed to be making a 
survey of the whole camp and surroundings, with a view, I 
presume, of forming some idea of the composition and strength 
of the enemy's forces. 

The site which had been occupied by each battalion could 
be traced, as well as marks which indicated the arms of the 
corps. The positions occupied by artillery or cavalry could be 
traced by the debris left behind, and which they in their 
sudden retreat had not burned or destroyed. Amongst the 
debris were a great many papers, such as newspapers, pieces of 
letters and envelopes addressed to men in difierent corps, such 
as " Sturge's Brigade, United States Army," " United States 
Dragoons," " Totten's Battery, U.S.A.," " Siegel's Brigade," 
" 3rd Regiment Iowa Volunteers," and many others. The 
extent of their camp showed that the enemy had a strong force 
of efficient troops, of which a considerable number was of the 
regular army of the United States. 

Their object in retreating was rather inexplicable, and from 
conversation which I heard among the officers it was deemed 
that they must either have overestimated our strength, or they 
were executing some manoeuvre to draw us further away from 
our supplies or into some trap that they might completely 
annihilate us. 

General Lyon was known to be one of the best generals the 
United States possessed, and it was not easy to surmise what 
strategy he might adopt. 

General M'Culloch's decision seemed to be quickly taken. 
He ordered the column to advance at once. 

Some mounted scouts were sent to scour the country in front 
and reconnoitre, and the column moved forward just as the 
sun was appearing above the horizon. 

The country was now more clear, open, and level, and we 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 205 

followed the line of the enemy's retreat. The brushwood or 
crops for about 50 feet on each side of the road was cleared or 
trampled down as if they had marched in column by companies. 
Tney had left us a good road. They had felled no trees across 
it, or placed any obstructions to retard our advance, as is 
usually done in a retreat. They had destroyed no crops or 
forage, so far as I saw, with a view of preventing our obtaining 
provender. In fact, everything seemed to indicate an invita- 
tion to us to follow them. I presume our general saw this, for 
he acted with great caution. 

The men had had but Kttle rest, no breakfast, little or 
nothing in their haversacks, and hard toil and little to eat for 
several days, and they were a good deal harassed and broken 
down, but maintained their spirit and dogged determination to 
have this matter out. 

In the early forenoon the scouts reported that the enemy 
was but a short distance in front. The head of the column 
was halted for files to close up, but before this was done our 
company was ordered to deploy in front as skirmishers, while 
other companies deployed in line across the road. This was 
scarcely done when a small body of the enemy's cavalry came 
sweeping down upon us. A few shots from our rifles rent 
them to the right about, and they went off as quickly as th-^-y 
came. It was evident that this was only a rear-guard 
reconnoitring party, probably trying to pick up some of our 
advanced scouts. 

These dashes were repeated several times, and the day being 
intensely hot, it was becoming hard upon us. The cavalry 
which was covering the retreat of the enemy began to appear 
in larger numbers, and M'Culloch ordered up two pieces of 
artillery to the front, and a few shrapnels sent amongst them 
warned them to keep at a more respectful distance. 

Shortly after mid-day some manoeuvring took place, which 
I did not understand. We had been wondering what had 
become of the Texas Rangers, of which we had heard so much. 
Why were not they, or some other of the mounted corps, sent 
to the front to try their strength with the United States 
Dragoons. They now did come, and went off on a detour. 
Our regiment was ordered to advance quickly, and we were 
led off the road through some fields and into a wood, until we 
came to where the wood was opened by a large field which had 
just newly been cleared of wheat. We were here deployed 



206 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

along the edge of the wood, so far in as to be out of sight, and 
ordered to sit or lie down, and to keep quiet and concealed, 
and be ready to fire upon the enemy's cavalry, which would be 
certain to pass in front of us in a short time. 

The men were very ready to sit or lie down ; it was pleasant 
to get a little rest in the cool shade, but the cravings of hunger 
were beginning to be severely felt. We remained in this quiet 
position for fully half-an-hour, but no enemy appeared, while 
the men were sorely tempted by a large flock of beautiful \vild 
turkeys, which came quietly along in front of us within 30 
yards, picking up and feeding upon the scattered fragments of 
the wheat, quite unconscious of our presence, or that so many 
loaded rifles were being pointed at them, and the officers had 
to use the most determined exertion and threats to restrain 
the men from having a shot at them. It was very tantalising 
to the men as they contemplated how soon one of the birds 
would have been roasting over a wood fire, and what a feast it 
would have made to starving men. I felt it more so as they 
came up closer, and a beautiful large gobbler strutted up with 
all the pride and dignity of a city alderman, and looked me 
straight in the face with a defiant air as much as to say, " You 
know you dare not fire." We were glad when they moved ofi*. 

The Yankee cavalry, however, were more 'cute, and had less 
faith in human forbearance than the turkeys, and they did not 
come near. 

This ambushing was tried several times afterwards, but I 
never once saw it successful. We were now ordered back to 
take our place at the head of the column, and the troops, 
which had been having a little rest, moved onwards. 

We were now warned to be careful of what we had in our 
canteens, as we had a march of over seven miles across a level 
prairie before we would come to a drop of water. At the end 
of that distance there was a roaring mountain spring, but the 
place would likely be occupied by the enemy. The sun was 
broiling hot, and our canteens were already nearly empty. 

We toiled on, but before we got half way the pangs of 
thirst had become almost unbearable. The heat seemed to 
become more intense as the afternoon advanced, and the men 
were beginning to fag. Many would have dropped out, but 
for the intimation that we were likely to meet the enemy at 
Big Springs, as the place was called, and that there there 
were good shade and plenty of water. At last we began to 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDEEATE ARMY. 207 

approach the high and wooded land at the end of the prairie, 
and scouts brought word that there was no enemy there. 
This was pleasing news, for we were not in very good condition 
to meet them. The pace was quickened and we approached 
the mountain side, and soon reached the spring, — and a spring 
it was ! An enormous fountain bursting out of the mountain 
side and rolling in a torrent down a stony creek. To dirty 
this stream was impossible, and the men let loose actually 
rushed into the torrent up to their knees. The water was 
clear, cool, and delicious, and what a luxury ! It seemed the 
greatest of all gratifications. The men drank almost to 
bursting, then filled their canteens. We were allowed a short 
time here to rest, and the men took off their shoes and wrung 
their wet stockings, some of which were beginning to show so 
many holes that it was difficult to know which hole to put the 
foot into. 

It was now near sunset and we had been manoeuvring in 
the broiling sun since daybreak, besides a long march had 
been accomplished, and we hoped we would bivouac here for 
the night, but we were ordered to march on about two miles 
farther. We had just got to the place where we were to 
bivouac for the night, when the sky suddenly darkened and a 
violent thunderstorm came on, and the rain poured down in 
torrents. We were drenched to the skin. Why did not this 
come, thought we, when we were scorched with heat and 
thirst on the prairie 1 We then had too little water, now we 
had too much. The rain was soon over and we managed to 
get fires lighted. 

There was one good thing at all those bivouacs, we could 
always get plenty of good firewood from the woods or old 
fence rails. We wrung our wet clothes and blankets, and set 
about drying them ; but the great question was : Were we to 
get anything to eatl After a while a waggon-load of green 
corn was brought in, and two ears were served out to each 
man. Poor as this fare was, and tired as we were of the green 
corn, it was soon roasted and eaten with a relish, followed by 
a drink of water, and the ever-solacing smoke. We then dried 
our clothes and blankets as well as we could, saw that our 
arms and ammunition were dry, and lay down upon our arms 
among the wet bushes. 

At daybreak we formed line again to proceed, and as we 
were ready to move forward an aide-de-camp rode up along the 



208 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

line and, coming up to our company on the right, told us that 
our march to-day would be but a short one, as we had not far to 
go, and we might depend upon it that supplies would be up, as 
M'Culloch had sworn that if supplies were not forward by this 
evening he would hang every waggon-master and commissary in 
the division upon the oak trees; whereupon there was a general 
acclamation and a sudden stepping forward of the whole line 
volunteering to draw the ropes. He also delivered an order 
detailing our second lieutenant to proceed to the rear and act 
for the time as waggon-master of the brigade. It seemed that 
the waggon-master and several of the commissary staff were 
reported on the sick list — sickness perhaps brought on by the 
sound of the firing. The second lieutenant, grumbling and 
protesting that he knew nothing about waggons, proceeded in 
obedience to orders, being strictly enjoined by the boys to 
remember the threat of the general, and assuring him that 
they would have a piece of rope in readiness. 

This appointment was no doubt owing to Lieutenant B.'s 
name being first on the list for detached service, but, though 
he was a smart and active young man, his occupation in civil 
life was that of a lawyer, and what did he know about getting 
waggons over bad roads ? The appointment caused some 
comment, and the boys thought it did not augur well for the 
waggons being got up that evening. But again it was remem- 
bered that lawyers were strange varmints, and if there was 
any possibility of a horse or a mule or a driver being cheated, 
flattered, or beguiled into a little extra exertion it was they 
that could do it, and it might be all right after all. 

The column proceeded, and the march for the day, as had 
been promised, was a short one. We came up to another 
creek called "Wilson's Creek." This creek was about the 
same size, or a little larger, than the others, but did not cross 
the road at right angles, but ran for some distance nearly in 
the same line as the road. The land on both sides was higher 
and somewhat undulating. Here we halted. We had seen 
nothing of the enemy since yesterday afternoon, and we were 
told that they had fallen back to Springfield, which was about 
eight miles distant. We were allotted a particular place 
for our bivouac, and preparation was made for a camp, which 
showed that M'Culloch intended to bring up and concentrate 
his forces here before making a further advance. The place 
was not a very advantageous position for defence, such as 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 209 

Crane Creek, but it afforded space on both sides of the creek 
for the forces to concentrate. Throughout the day the 
remainder of the division came up. 

I may here say that M'Culloch was only a brigadier-general, 
while the force under his command would comprise a division. 
He was far from, and could have but little communication 
with, the War Department at Richmond, and presumably had 
no great influence there. Not having full power to act or 
appoint, he had temporarily di\ided his forces into two brigades, 
commanding both himself, with Colonel M'Intosh as his 
assistant. 

General Price, with the Missouri State troops not being in 
the Confederate ser\dce, was simply an ally, and the two 
generals had to act in concert. 

Towards evening Price's forces began to come up, encamping 
on the opposite side of the creek. About sunset we were 
rejoiced at the arrival of some waggons ^vith provisions. The 
general's threat had not been without its effect. Rations of 
flour, fresh beef, salt, and a little coffee and sugar, were served 
out ; and some cooking utensils were obtained, and cooking 
and eating gone into with great vigour, and we enjoyed a fair 
night's rest. 

We had lately been slightly annoyed by little insects, with 
which the grass in the woods abounded. They were called red 
bugs, a small kind of spider of a red colour. They fastened on 
the skin, and caused a good deal of scratching ; but they were 
nothing to mosquitoes, the remembrance of which made all 
other annoyances of that kind seem slight. In this camp these 
red bugs were very plentiful ; and the men slept on the banks 
of the creek, which were steep, sloping down towards the water. 
The banks were covered with large round pebbles, and the 
itching from the bites of these insects caused the men in their 
sleep to roll or welter (after the fashion of a horse or mule) on 
their backs, and the round pebbles on which they lay, rolling, 
caused them to work downwards, until several of them in their 
unconscious state rolled into the creek, which was here about 
a foot deep, to the great amusement of such as had been 
awakened by the splashing and exclamations of their drenched 
comrades. 

By the morning all the forces were up, and the camp was 
put into some kind of order and position. On the one side 
of the creek were the Confederate troops under M'Culloch, each 





210 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

company having one tent to keep the arms and ammunition 
dry. The general's tent and headquarters were close to our 
bivouac. Beyond that, on the extreme right, was Woodruff's 
battery of six guns. To the left of us were the different regi- 
ments of infantry of Arkansas and Texas troops, and on the 
extreme left was Reid's battery of six guns ; Churchhill's regi- 
ment of mounted infantry being somewhere on the left, also 
the Texas rangers. These mounted troops were often on the 
move reconnoitring. 

On the opposite side of the stream were several grassy ridges, 
the principal of which terminated in a hill about half-a-mile 
from the creek. This hill, near the top, was covered with 
stunted or scrub oak trees, and it bore the name of " Oakhill." 
On the grassy ridges, forming the spurs of this hill, Price's 
division was encamped. 

In this position we lay for about three days, rather inactive. 
Here J. S. got into another serious difficulty. He had all 
along been somewhat morose and sullen, but always prompt 
to duty. He was now charged with assaulting a field officer. 
I never learned the exact particulars, but it seemed he had 
been doing something about some of the waggons, and was 
challenged by the major and ordered away, and he had retorted 
or refused, which led to high words, resulting in the assault. 
This was a high offence, and he was put under arrest, to be 
tried by court-martial. 

It was now known that the enemy had fallen back to 
Springfield, and were entrenching themselves there. Spring- 
field was a place of some importance. It was the principal 
town in the southern part of Missouri, and there converged 
the roads leading from Kansas, from the Indian Territory, and 
from Arkansas, and leading northwards towards St. Louis. 
It was plain we would now have to force the fighting. The 
enemy was all right. They were resting upon their base of 
operations, in a commanding position, with abundance of sup- 
plies, and their force likely to be augmented. 

We were far from our base of operations, deficient of sup- 
plies, our means of transport giving out, and, to say nothing 
of the distance and excessive bad roads between us and our 
base of operations, there were numerous creeks and rivers 
which, as winter approached, would be swollen and become 
impassable. We had no chance of reinforcements, and our 
strength was likely to be decreased by sickness. M'Culloch 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 211 

(as I afterwards learned) did not care to trust too much to 
information received from the country people regarding the 
enemy's strength or movements. 

These people were apt to be deceived or to exaggerate ; 
besides, they would have their own private sentiments in favour 
of the South or the North, or they might be indifferent ; but, 
whatever their private sentiinents might be, they would have 
to shape their outward policy according as the country was 
occupied by a Northern or a Southern army, and generally he 
put but little faith in outward demonstrations. 

Price, on the other hand, considered that the mass of the 
population was in his favour and loyal to his cause, but was 
kept in subjection- by a Federal army, and that their informa- 
tion might be relied upon. 

About the third day after we camped here some ladies on 
horseback visited Price's camp. I do not know whether they 
had any friends in it or not, but they professed great zeal in 
the Southern cause. They conversed very graciously with the 
men as they rode through the camp, and wished them every 
success. They expressed a great desire to see the Confederate 
troops, and were shown over the camp, and expressed their 
admiration at everything they saw, bowing graciously to the 
men, and promising to pray for their success. 

About sunset the same evening an order was quietly sent 
round precisely the same as the one at Crane Creek for the 
troops to be prepared to march at nine o'clock to make an 
attack on the enemy at Springfield, the only difference being 
that the troops should take three days' cooked rations in their 
haversacks. 

The preparation was commenced drawing and cooking of 
rations, not for three days, but for one day, that being as much 
as the commissary had to give. Arms and ammunition pouches 
were examined and the number of rounds made up to each 
man. Each company's sohtary tent was struck, and with the 
cooking utensils packed in waggons to be sent as might be 
ordered. Our captain had been detailed to command the 
skirmishers, which were to consist of our company and two 
others, and we were to advance in front. 

It was near nine o'clock, the sky had become clouded, and a 
few drops of rain were falling. I was just going to form the 
company, when the major came along to say that the march 
would be postponed to see what the weather would do, and if 



212 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

the rain continued we were to pitch tents again and keep the 
arms dry. The reason he assigned for this delay was that a 
good many of the Missouri troops were armed with flint-lock 
muskets, and a still greater number of them had no cartouche- 
boxes, and they would be of little service if it rained, and it 
would take every available man and arm that we had for what 
we had to do. " And you see, W.," continued he, assuming 
the old citizen style of talking, " it would never do for us to 
attempt this job and make a botch of it." 

The rain continued, but not heavy ; tents were again pitched, 
and, though the rain ceased about eleven o'clock and the night 
became fine, nothing was said about marching. Another post- 
ponement ? The suspense was becoming unbearable. The 
men sought the driest place they could find to lie down. The 
weather looked better, and it was supposed that we should 
march forward at dawn of day. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

BATTLE OF OAKHILL, 

On the first appearance of dawn some of the boys got up and 
ran down to the waggon to get something to make a little 
coffee to drink before we started on the march. 

There being now no drum beat at reveille a bugle was sounded 
for roll call. The roll was called, and the boys were trying to 
get some coffee prepared, when mounted men were seen 
hurrying up to the general's tent, and a young lad called my 
attention, saying, " There is something up ! " 

The general was out partly dressed and bare-headed, eagerly 
listening. I got near to listen. I saw the men pointing in 
different directions, and heard them say something about 
"coming round through the prairie," "cavalry," and "16 
pieces of artillery." The general gave them some orders and 
they rode off. He then returned to his tent and immediately 
came out with his coat and hat on, and seeing us looking he 
cried out, "Fall in there!" and then walked over towards 
Price's head-quarters. I gave the order to " Fall in," and the 
company was quickly formed, amidst cries of "We are 
going to have it now, boys." 

The other companies were as quickly formed, and the 
regiment was soon in line. Two of the other companies were 
joined to ours to be ready to deploy in front as skirmishers ; 
and we were ordered to proceed to the right of Woodruff's 
battery. As we passed the battery we saw it had got into 
position, and the artillerymen bringing water from the creek to 
fill their sponge-buckets and prepare for action. 

Here we were halted for a few minutes. I looked along 
the company and saw every man was in his place. We stood 
upon an elevated spot and had a fine view of the greater part 
of the field. Price's army waggons, which had been taken 
forward for the march on the previous evening, were being 
driven furiously to the rear. 

The enemy had possession of the Oakhill, where they were 
getting their artillery into position, and large bodies of their 



214 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

troops were extending out on their left wing, seemingly with 
the view of turning our right flank, and getting in rear of 
Woodrufi''s battery. The order of the battle, notwithstanding 
the hurried way it was begun, was upon a regular plan and well 
ordered throughout. 

Upon our right was the 1st Brigade, consisting of the 3rd 
Louisiana Regiment, the 2nd and 3rd Arkansas Regiments, 
with Woodrufi^'s battery of six guns — under command of 
Colonel M'Intosh. 

Upon our left was the 1st Arkansas Regiment, Churchhill's 
Regiment, and a Texas Regiment (the two latter were mounted 
infantry but fought on foot), and Reid's battery of six guns 
— commanded by General M'CuUoch. 

In the centre a little advanced was Price's division with 
one battery of four guns — under General Price. 

The lines of the battle were somewhat in the form of a 
crescent, the enemy being on the outside line and we upon 
the inside line. 

Upon the enemy's right was Siegel's German Brigade, with 
one battery of six guns, commanded by General Siegel. Upon 
their left was Sturges' Brigade of United States troops, with, 
I think, one battery of three or four guns, commanded by 
Colonel Sturges. In the centre were several regiments of Iowa 
and Missouri Volunteers, with some United States troops, 
and one battery of six guns, under Colonel Totten, with a 
detachment of United States Cavalry which acted as reserve, 
— the whole commanded by General Lyon. 

As we stood here it got to be clear daylight, and we saw 
that the enemy had gained a great advantage by getting 
possession of the Oakhill, and having his artillery planted 
upon it. 

We had not long to ponder over it, for Colonel M'Intosh 
galloped up, and putting himself at our head, cried, "This 
way, boys." He led us out towards the front of our right, 
against the enemy's left. We had not proceeded far, when a 
shot from Totten's battery on the Oakhill, and a shell bursting 
over our heads, announced the opening of the ball. This was 
followed by others thick and fast, and they were beginning to 
come unpleasantly close. We were soon pleased to hear Wood- 
ruff's battery returning the fire, which showed the enemy they 
were not going to have it all their own way. This drew some 
of the fire ofi" us. We now got on to a road which led across 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 215 

some level land, which was covered with a low copse or brush- 
wood. The skirmishers were now ordered to deploy in front, 
and fight their way up to a rail fence which formed the 
boundary between the copse and the corn-fields beyond, where 
the enemy was forming their line. This road led to the corn- 
fields, and a large part of the rail fence had been taken down 
to allow of the carting away of the corn which had been 
already gathered. Colonel M'Intosh, pointing to this opening, 
which might be about 60 feet wide, said, "I see the enemy's 
cavalry yonder in rear of their infantry, take care that they 
don't pass in through that opening ; and mind, that is my regi- 
ment that is in front on your left, take care and not fire into 
it." 

The copse was low and easily got through, and we could see 
the enemy's line advancing in beautiful order, with skirmishers 
in front. 

The opposing forces approached the fence about the same 
time. As we got to within 20 yards of it on the one side, 
their skirmishers would be about 20 yards from it on the other 
side, the main lines on both sides being about 30 yards in the rear 
of their skirmishers. 

" Who are you ? What force is that ? " cried a voice from 
our side, which I think was our colonel's. " United States 
troops," was the reply. This was said in a tone so authorita- 
tive that I confess it for a moment almost staggered me. It 
seemed to say. This is authority, so lay down your arms and go 
home. The sudden appearance close before us of the men and 
officers with whom we had always been so friendly, and had 
respected so much, and with whom we had paraded a year ago 
at the Baton Rouge fair, took me slightly aback. Others may 
have had, and did have, the same feeling, but it was quickly 
dispelled by the words which followed, which were, "Who are 
you? Volunteers'?" This last word was uttered with such 
scorn and bitterness, and followed by some expressions of con- 
tempt for volunteers, that I believe it roused the spirit of 
every man in our ranks, who seemed to say, " I thank thee, 
Roderick, for the word." " Volunteers ! " cried a United 
States officer, with supreme contempt, "pitch into them, 
boys, and clear them out of your way!" "Yes, we are 
volunteers," cried several voices from our side, "and we will 
let you know that before we are done with you ; " and the fire 
opened from both sides about the same moment, and our first 



216 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

lieutenant, with whom I was talking at the moment, dropped 
at my feet, with the blood streaming from his neck. All 
hesitation now left me, and I was roused to the work. Our 
captain, being in command of the whole line of skirmishers, 
was of course absent from the company. Our second lieutenant, 
being still with the waggon department, was busy getting the 
waggons to the rear, and the first lieutenant having fallen, 
the immediate command of the company now fell upon me. 
The sergeant-major came up to me to deliver some order, but I 
could not hear it for the firing ; he was coming closer to repeat 
it, when he fell shot dead. 

The order had been for the skirmishers to fall back on the 
main body, which had now approached to within 15 yards of 
them. The fire from our rear passing so close over our heads 
soon warned us to fall back upon the main Kne. About the 
same time and in the same way the enemy's skirmishers fell 
back on their main line, and the battle now began in true 
earnest. Both sides were piqued and determined. It was 
now a fair stand-up fight, and the question was who would 
stand it longest. The fire was heavy on both sides, and the 
bullets rattled like a hailstorm. 

We had certainly the advantage of being in the brushwood, 
for, although it did not reach higher than our shoulders, yet 
the men stooped when loading, and for the time were hid from 
the aim of the enemy; but in a short time the smoke got so 
thick that sure aim could not be taken on either side. The 
enemy tried to work round on our right flank, but was there 
as vigorously met. 

The fighting was desperate for about half-an-hour, when a 
sort of a lull took place as if by mutual consent, to draw 
breath and let the smoke clear away. 

When the smoke cleared away a little we could see the 
enemy plainly. They stood as firm as ever, but their ranks 
were much thinned and their dead lay thick. The voices of 
their officers, who had been crying, " Pitch into them, boys ! " 
were now hushed. Some of them had been slightly wounded 
in the head, but they still stood in their places, while the 
blood running down their faces gave them a ghastly but fierce 
and determined look. They were evidently riled at having 
met with such determined resistance. 

"How about volunteers now?" cried several voices from 
our side. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 217 

This was answered vindictively by a volley, and the battle 
commenced again with renewed vigour. It seemed to have 
become a test of rivalry between regulars and volunteers ; both 
sides were thoroughly roused, and the combat was furious. 
The enemy were better armed than we were. They were of 
good metal and well disciplined, and maintained their phalanx 
by closing up to the centre. They stood upright, and pre- 
served their hne well formed. This was fatal to them. Our 
line was not so well formed or the men so well disciplined, but 
they were as resolute and were better marksmen, and the 
fighting being at close quarters the difference of arms was not 
much felt. We had had the advantage of the brushwood, but 
that was now getting too much trampled down to afford much 
shelter. 

The enemy had evidently suffered severely. Their ranks 
were fearfully thinned ; their fire was beginning to slacken, 
and they were unquestionably getting the worst of it. They 
were mad with desperation, and began to cry, " Come out and 
meet us in the open field." 

" Charge them with the bayonet !" cried a voice near me. 

" Give them the steel, boys !" resounded along the line, and 
with a tremendous cheer we rushed out upon them. They 
broke, the greater part retreating towards their centre on 
Oakhill ; but some still stood in line, seemingly dumbfounded, 
and were pushed down and run over by our men as they 
followed the retreating body. But I don't think a single 
man of them was bayoneted ; our men were too much excited 
and exhilarated with their success to notice them. One young 
officer stood holding a small flag or marker on their line. I 
ran to seize the flag from him. He with his sword inflicted a 
slight wound on my wrist. I closed with him, but found the 
poor fellow was already sorely wounded, and he fell fainting 
on the ground, still holding on to the flag. I left him ; and, 
not wishing to be left behind, ran up and joined my company, 
which had passed on, following up the retreating enemy. We 
followed them up towards the base of Oakhill, but we were 
there checked by a storm of shrapnel and grape, which was 
opened upon us from a battery on the enemy's left. Fortu- 
nately we were not in very compact order at the time, and not 
much damage was done. 

We. rallied behind a rising ground and took a breathing 
space. Here I looked at my wounded wrist and saw it was 



218 LIFE IX THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

not serious, though bleeding profusely. I tied it up with the 
piece of white rag which we had tied round our left arms to 
distingTiish us from the enemy. 

Colonel M'Intosh now rode up and told us that we had made 
a good beginning, but the day was not yet won, and we were 
ordered to form hne as quickly as possible. 

We formed line, but we covered much less ground than we 
had done in the early morning ; our ranks had got a consider- 
able thinning. On looking over our company I found about 
20 missing. The skirmishing companies now took their regular 
places in the regiment, and our captain joined us. I also 
became aware of the presence of J. S. ; he had broken away 
from the guard and had got a rifle and joined in the fight. 

While we stood here a few minutes awaiting orders we had 
a good view of the whole field, which showed that the battle 
was still far from being decided. Our right had beaten and 
driven in the enemy's left wing, but on our centre and left 
%ving the battle^ was raging furiously. The sky had suddenly 
darkened down, which showed the red flashes of the artillery 
through the smoke, while the hissing of shells and the con- 
tinued crackle of small arms made the scene look grand, though 
not altogether pleasant. 

Suddenly some one cried out that there was cavalry coming 
down upon us. 

" Pooh ! " cried Colonel M'Intosh, " who the de\dl cares for 
cavalry 1 Here, you rifles, take your position along that fence 
and send them to the rightabout." This was addressed to our 
company, and we ran and took up the position. We saw the 
cavalry advancing upon us, but before they came within range 
of our rifles a shower of grape and shrapnels from Woodruff''s 
battery sent them to the rightabout. 

Just at this moment General M'Culloch came galloping up, 
and, addressing the regiment, commended them for their 
bravery, and pointing to a battery on the enemy's right, said 
it must be stormed. The shattered brigade was then formed, 
and Colonel M'Intosh placed himself at its head and we moved 
towards the centre. My position was on the right as usual, 
and Colonel M'Intosh rode by my side. 

Colonel M'Intosh, though very afiable and pleasant in his 
manner, had nevertheless something so commanding in his 
deportment that he carried men with him in spite of them- 
selves, and, although I would just as soon have been somewhere 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 219 

else than to be the first man marching up to that battery, yet 
I felt that I would rather die three times over than display 
the slightest fear under the eye of that man. 

On our way to the centre we crossed the creek. In the 
stream were several dead and wounded horses, and at the edge 
of the water were several wounded men who had managed to 
crawl there. The sun was now out bright and hot, and the 
dust and smoke were stifling. Our men, parched with thirst, 
drank and filled their canteens. This delayed the column a 
little, when our major came along in great distress. He was 
on foot, walking lame and bareheaded. "Ho! what is the 
matter, major 1 " He was in a sad plight. His horse had 
been shot under him. It had fallen upon his leg and hurt his 
foot, having partly rolled over on him. He had struggled a 
long time before he could extricate himself. His clothes were 
all dirtied and torn, and he had lost his hat. The sun was 
burning his head, which he was trying to protect with his 
hand. " Here is a hat for you, major ! " cried one of the boys, 
picking up a wretched old torn straw hat which had been lost 
by some of the waggon-drivers in the morning while hurrying 
back with their waggons to the rear. The major, seeming to 
think that at that time at least the nature of the hat was of 
less importance than the preservation of the head that was in 
it, said it would be better than nothing, and put it on amid 
the laughter of the whole regiment. 

As we got to the centre we found that a large number of 
Price's troops were falling back down the hill in confusion. 
Colonel M'Intosh was immediately amongst them. " Back, 
back, men, and stand to your colours. Why, here is a brigade 
that has already thrashed the enemy's regulars and cut them 
to pieces, and they are now come to help you." The men 
immediately rallied round him, and he led them back up the 
hill. 

General M'CuUoch then rode up, and saying something to 
Colonel M'Intosh, the latter turned the 2nd and 3rd Arkansas 
regiments up the hill to the support of Price, while M'Culloch 
himself led our regiment towards the left and against the 
battery on the enemy's right. 

As we moved onwards we passed Price's battery, which was 
silenced. The place here showed signs of rough work ; the 
ground was much ploughed up by cannon shot, and the dead 
and wounded lay thick. The place was enveloped in smoke 



220 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

from the burning grass and debris, and the burning wadding 
which was falling on us, as the cannon shots passed over our 
heads from the battery we were going to storm. This was 
all the better for us, as it hid our approach from the enemy 
and enabled us to come upon them and take them unawares. 
"Keep down and trail arms," said M'CuUoch, and we kept 
down along the bank of the creek. The battery was situated 
on a piece of high tableland overlooking and commanding a 
large part of the field, with a steep bank in front. The road 
led along the bottom of this bank, which was covered with 
trees and brushwood. Up and along the bank we went 
cautiously, under cover of the smoke and keeping below the 
range of fire, the general leading the way. We got so close 
that we could see the muzzles of the guns and a body of 
infantry in a hollow place to the left of the battery. 

"What force is this ?" cried General M'Culloch. 

" Siegel's brigade," was the answer. 

" All right," said M'Culloch. " Now, boys, give it to them." 

A deadly fire was poured upon the infantry and the guns 
simultaneously, and our men rushed forward and drove the 
artillerymen from the guns. They were taken completely by 
surprise and broke in confusion. Some of the artillerymen did 
succeed in limbering up, but horses and men were shot down 
before they could get away. The infantry tried to rally and 
retake the guns, but were driven back by our fire, and they 
retreated away through some corn-fields. 

We were now, almost to our own surprise, left in possession 
of the guns, and we could hardly believe that we had captured 
a battery which had been doing such damage throughout the 
morning. 

On looking round, one of the first men that I saw at the 
guns was Colonel M'Intosh. That man seemed to be every- 
where. After getting the two Arkansas regiments set to work 
in the centre, he had galloped over to join in the attack on 
the battery. But we had quickly to stand back from the guns. 
A shot from one of our own batteries killed two of our own 
men (one of them a captain), knocking a spoke out of a wheel, 
and making a deep dent in one of the guns. Reid's battery on 
our left was still playing on this battery, and did not know 
that it had been taken. Orders were immediately sent to cease 
firing upon it. 

In the meantime where was the enemy ? It was known that 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 221 

Siegel was not the man to be so easily defeated, and he would 
likely make an effort to retake the guns. We soon after saw 
a body of infantry coming up in the rear of the battery, and 
we prepared to receive them, but they made but a poor stand. 
They rather seemed amazed and stupified, and after a few shots 
they retreated. 

It seemed that this was a regiment of infantry which had 
been placed to support the battery, and in the confusion into 
which they had been thrown by our sudden attack, they had 
retreated the wrong way, and were now trying to make their 
way back to join their own main body. As we had advanced 
some distance past the guns, they probably mistook us for a 
part of their own brigade from which they were now cut off. 

As soon as the battery had been captured, and the infantry 
supporting it driven back and held in check by our regiment, 
our second brigade, consisting of the 1st Arkansas regiment, 
Churchhill's regiment, and the Texas regiment, which had 
suffered severely in the morning, made a fresh attack on the 
main body of Siegel's brigade, which they drove back and cut 
off from Lyon's centre. Meanwhile we were deployed along 
the edge of the wood which lined the approach to the battery, 
to check any advance that might be made to retake the guns. 

Here a little incident happened, which shows how easily a 
mistake might occur. We were formed in line about 10 yards 
from, and parallel with the road, but could not be seen from 
it on account of the brushwood, and we were expecting an 
advance of the enemy along this road. In a short time, being 
on the right, I saw above the brushwood the head and 
shoulders of a man on horseback advancing along the road, 
which from the cap and uniform I saw, bore the rank of 
captain in the Federal army. Supposing him to be the 
leader of the attacking party, an impetuous corporal by my 
side raised his rifle to take him down. I ordered him not to 
fire yet, but wait a little. In the meantime the officer rode 
past a tree which intervened and the corporal was rating me 
for having made him lose his shot, when the officer stopped, 
and I heard some one talking with him, and recognised the 
voice of our lieutenant-colonel. 

I immediately went out to the road, and saw the officer and 
our lieutenant-colonel in conversation. I explained to our 
lieutenant-colonel the danger the officer was in. The officer 
acknowledged his rashness and dismounted, and a flag of truce 



222 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

was displayed by way of attaching a white handkerchief to a 
bayonet which was held up. He was the chief medical officer 
of the Federal army, and wished to negotiate for the treatment 
of the wounded. 

General M'Culloch, who after the battery was captured had 
galloped to another part of the field, fortunately at this 
moment returned. He readily agreed to let the enemy take 
their wounded off the field, on the strict conditions that they 
should take nothing else, such as arms, etc., until the result of 
the battle was known, and that every ambulance party should 
bear with them conspicuously a hospital flag, and orders were 
sent along not to fire upon any party bearing a yellow flag. 

We were now ordered to secure the guns and such of the 
horses as had been left unwounded, scour the fields and bushes 
in the neighbourhood for hidden parties of enemy, and prepare 
for action in another part of the field. 

Immediately in the rear of the battery was a pretty sub- 
stantial farm-house with extensive barns and out-houses. All 
the buildings were completely riddled by the shot. I was 
sent with a small party to search all the houses, in case some 
of the enemy had taken refuge or hidden themselves there. 
"We found several of the enemy in a hay loft who surrendered 
as prisoners. I forced the back-door of the dwelling-house 
which was locked and entered the kitchen. Several cannon 
shots had passed through it, and the floor was strewn with 
dust and broken crockery. I examined the other rooms but 
found nobody. I was about to retire when one of the boys 
called to me that here was a stair down to a cellar and we 
might catch some one down there. 

I went down, and . caught a tartar. A woman jumped up 
and confronted me. 

" What do you want here 1 Get out of this," she cried, as 
she launched out into a tirade of abuse about how their house 
and property had been destroyed and themselves almost killed. 

I desired her to compose herself, as I was only looking to see 
if any of the enemy had taken refuge there. Looking round 
the place, I saw a younger woman, a man, and some children, 
who were crouched in a corner behind some barrels and a large 
pile of apples. 

" Is that your husband ? " said I. 

" Yes, he is my husband, and them is my children." 

" Oh, very well, we will not molest you further," said I, 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 223 

calling out to the boys, who were helping themselves to the 
apples, to desist, and we turned to go upstairs. 

"Oh, take the apples," said she, "take a plenty of them; 
take them all if you like. Are you Lincoln's folk or Jeff. 
Davis' folk ? 

" Jeff. Davis' folk," said I. 

She then asked if the fuss was over. I said I did not know, 
but that I thought it would be over at this part of the field, 
as we had taken the enemy's guns that had been in the front 
of her house. 

" Then burn the pesky things," said she. " My head is 
split in pieces, and the children has got fits, and my old man 
has got quite deaf with the big noise of them." 

I felt like saying that, considering her gift of speech, a worse 
thing might have happened to the old man. But the old man, 
having regained his hearing and a little assurance, asked me 
as we were ascending the stair if it would be safe for them 
now to come up, as they had been down there ever since the 
fuss began. I said it would, but if they heard firing to go 
down again. They were quite safe in the cellar from any kind of 
shot, but that a shell, if exploding in it, might have set the house 
on fire. The old woman was up first, but on seeing the wreck, 
and looking out and seeing the dead men and horses lying in 
front of the house, she broke out in a greater fury than ever. 
Who was going to pay for all this ? Who was going to take 
away them dead folks and dead horses ? Was she to have them 
lying stinking round her house 1 so that I was glad to get 
away and join the regiment, which was now forming to proceed 
to another part of the field. 

General M'Culloch now addressed the regiment and said, 
" You have beaten the enemy's right and left wings, only their 
centre is left, and with all our forces concentrated upon that, 
we will soon make sliort work of it." 

Our route was now by a detour, and then to ascend Oakhill 
and attack the enemy in their rear. We were led by our 
colonel ; the detour was long, and we were to move as quickly 
as possible. The sun was now intensely hot, and the men 
were considerably fatigued, but they pressed on. The heavy 
firing at the centre continued, showing that there was heavy 
fighting going on. We got to the base of the hill in their rear 
and began to ascend. The enemy discovered us, and opened 
fire at a considerable distance. We were pressing up the hill 



224 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

to get to closer quarters, when a ball took me in the pit of the 
stomach, and for a few minutes I remembered no more. 

When I recovered consciousness, I was lying on my back, 
with the sun pouring into my eyes. I had fallen with my head 
down the hill, my left hand, which was the wounded one, was 
under my back. I must have thrown it back to stop me from 
falling. I felt the wounded hand sore, but no other pain. In 
trying to move my wounded hand, I felt something trickle 
upon it, I concluded the ball had passed through my body 
and had come out at my back, and that the blood was trickling 
from the wound, and that, therefore, it was all up with me. 
What my thoughts were I need not say, but I felt no faintness 
nor pain, except from my wounded wrist. This I gently with- 
drew from under me, and bringing it before me, saw the 
wound was bleeding a little, but what had trickled over my 
hand was water. A sudden flash of hope sprung up, and I 
ventured to shake myself and felt nothing wrong, and I 
sprang to my feet. My belt and sabre fell away from me as I 
rose, but I could not realise that no ball had pierced me, and 
I examined closely, shook myself, and drew long breaths to be 
sure that I was all right. I was burning with thirst, and 
applied to my canteen, but found it was nearly empty, and 
I observed a hole in it, showing that the ball had passed 
through it. The cloth covering ha-^dng got worn off the canteen, 
the water had got warm with the sun, and it had been that 
which trickled on my hand. Glad to find I was still all right, 
I proceeded to buckle on my belt, but found the clasp broken, 
and the large brass plate in front, on which was emblazoned 
the Louisiana State emblem of the "Pelican," dented and 
marked with a ball. It was now e\ddent that the ball had 
come in a slightly slanting direction, struck the brass plate, 
and glanced off, passing through my canteen, while the thud 
on the stomach had knocked the breath from me, and paralysed 
me for a time. I fastened my belt with a string and started 
to follow up the regiment. 

The cannonade had now ceased, and there was only a slight 
firing of small arms. When I got up to the regiment I found 
them sitting down, the battle supposed to be over, and the 
enemy in full retreat. 

We were ordered to remain here until Churchhill's regiment 
and the Texas rangers should pass on to harass the enemy's 
retreat and capture some more of their guns, if possible. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 225 

It was now about two o'clock, and the men were pretty- 
tired. A party was sent to fill the canteens at the creek, and 
another party was sent off to attend to the wounded. 

We soon afterwards received orders to go back to camp; 
the battle was over, and we had gained the victory. This 
announcement was received with loud cheers, and we started 
back to camp highly pleased with the day's work, everyone, of 
course, recounting the deeds they had done — some of the boys 
having slain half-a-dozen generals or put a squadron of horse 
to flight. 

When we got to our camp we found the ground torn up in 
some places with shot, and strewn with fragments of shells, 
but not much damage done. (The enemy, in their report of 
the battle, said they had destroyed the camp.) But there was 
but little to damage ; one or two tents had been burned by 
the shells, and one or two waggons damaged, but the horses 
and mules and the greater part of the waggons had been got 
behind a hill, out of range of the shot. In our bivouac the 
coffee was standing over the cold fires, just as we had left it in 
the morning (it seemed an age since that time). We were 
ordered to stack arms, get something to eat, and then a 
party to be sent to relieve the one that was attending to the 
wounded, and have all the wounded brought in and cared for, 
(the enemy being allowed to attend to their own wounded), 
and all our own dead to be noted and buried, there being no 
chance of the enemy annoying us any more at present. We 
were very hungry and tired, and soon made a hearty breakfast 
and dinner all in one. Having called the roll and made the 
details from my company, I went to the scene of the battle of 
the morning to look out for the missing. After diligent search 
I accounted for them all, and was glad to find that there was 
not one killed outright, but 19 wounded — some of whom after- 
wards died of their wounds. 

Stretchers were procured or made out of blankets, and the 
wounded were carried to camp and put under the best cover 
we could provide; and the quarter-master, having procured 
spades and mattocks, the burying of the dead was proceeded 
with — our own dead first. 

The enemy, having some ambulance parties in the field 
picking up their wounded, and conversation between the 
parties not being forbidden, our men were so happy over 
their victory that they were in the best of humour, and 

p 



226 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

cheerfully assisted the enemy's parties in taking up their 
wounded. 

I remembered the young officer whom I had encountered in 
the morning, and took them to the place I left him, but found 
he was not there. I could not be mistaken in the place, for 
the row of dead showed where their line had been formed, and 
I found some shreds of the flag, which he seemed to have cut 
or torn up to prevent it falling into our hands. I picked up 
the shreds, intending to say nothing about the flag, as I feared 
I might be censured for not having taken it from him. I 
afterwards found him in the barn of a deserted farm-house 
near by, where he with some others had managed to crawl. I 
hailed one of their ambulances, and got him put into it. He 
was shot in the groin, and it was just possible that he might 
recover. He was very faint, and did not seem to recognise 
me. I showed him my wounded wrist and some pieces of the 
flag ; he then recognised me and called me back, grasped my 
hand, and thanked me. 

Having examined the wounded of my company, and the 
nature of their wounds, I hurried back to camp to make out 
my report. Having no paper or form, I tore a leaf out of my 
roll-book, and, heading it with the name of the company and 
date, wrote under — "Killed, none; wounded, 19; missing, 
none." This I got signed by the captain, and took to the 
colonel's tent. 

In the tent was the commissary, and the colonel was just in 
the act of squeezing the last drop of claret out of a demijohn 
which the commissary seemed to have brought. I cast a 
longing eye on the tin cup, which was nearly full of claret, and 
an imploring look on the colonel, as much as to say that I was 
awaiting orders ; but the colonel did not see it in that light, 
for he drank it ofi' with seeming great satisfaction, and had not 
a drop to spare. He then looked at me and said : " Well, 
have you brought your report?" I said I had no form or 
paper to make it out properly, but there was the substance of 
it, and I handed the scrap of paper to him. He said that 
would not do ; I must give the men's names and the nature of 
their wounds. I said I could do so if he would give me paper. 
He then gave me a sheet of paper and directed me to sit down, 
and he showed me how to make out the return. There were 
four dangerously, nine severely, and six slightly. He asked 
what I meant by slightly. I said I meant not dangerously or 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 227 

severely, but still rendered unfit for duty for a time. " I don't 
mean," continued I, " such scratches as that," showing him my 
wounded wrist ; "we have several such as that, but these I have 
not counted." He said that was right ; " but," said he, " that 
is a sabre wound ; how did you get that 1 " I told him of the 
affair, and as I saw that the wine had put him in good humour 
I thought I might as well ease my mind and make a clean 
breast of it about the flag, and showed him some of the shreds. 
He said I should by all means have taken the flag from him, 
as it would have been an honour to me and to the regiment. 
I said I could not think to struggle with a man whom I had 
come upon wounded and helpless ; besides, my company had 
gone on following up the enemy, and I was in command of it 
at the time. He allowed there was something in that, but said 
that I must never in future lose an opportunity of capturing a 
flag. He said he was well pleased with me for the day, and, 
looking towards the commissary, asked if he had anything left. 
The commissary said he had not a drop left, and I judged from 
his appearance that what he said might be true. The colonel 
turned to me and said he was sorry that he could not ask me to 
drink, but I was just to consider that I had got a drink from 
him ; the honour would be all the same. I came away, thinking 
that it was rather a dry honour. 

As I came out I saw a party of the enemy bearing a flag of 
truce. They had come to ask for the body of General Lyon, 
who had been killed in the engagement. The request was 
granted, and General M'Culloch sent his own spring waggon, 
furnished with a guard, to take the body as far as Springfield. 

The surgeons were now busy operating upon the wounded. 
The orderly sergeant of the company next to ours had been in 
civil life a medical man in full practice. He now came forward 
and offered his services, which were accepted. He was after- 
wards appointed surgeon, and an excellent surgeon he was. 
He was known as Dr. C. If Dr. C. is still in life, and this 
should meet his eye, he will remember his old friend the sergeant 
of the rifles. The doctors worked late that night. I watched 
some of the operations ; they were very painful. But what 
struck me as most incredible was the strange courses taken by 
the bullets, particularly by the pointed conical bullets. 

The surgeon was cutting a ball out of the back of a man's 
head, which had entered near the eye. I saw that man 
marching with his company a few days afterwards. It was 



228 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

certainly imprudent of him to do so, but still he recovered 
quickly. The ball had passed round the skull under the skin, 
and was cut out at the back of the head without injuring the 
bone. Some were wounded in the front of the leg, the ball 
going round the bone and passing out at the calf. Some, to 
their great annoyance, had got wounds in the back by bullets 
striking against trees and glancing backwards. Our first 
lieutenant, Avho had dropped while talking ^vith me, had a 
most miraculous escape. The ball had struck him on the one 
side of the neck, taking a curve round his throat and passing 
out at the other side, laying bare the windpipe, but not cutting 
it. The boys teased him, saying the scar would look more like 
as if he had attempted suicide by trying to cut his throat, than 
that of a wound received in battle. 

About eight o'clock Colonel M'Intosh, who had been away 
following up the enemy, came riding in, and going up to where 
the surgeons were, he dismounted, and throwing off his coat, 
said he did not want to take up much of their time, but he 

had been hit on the shoulder by one of their d d canister 

shots, and they might see what it was like. They examined 
the place, but found the skin was not broken. The shot had 
struck and glanced off, leaving a large blue lump. He said it 
was painful, but laughed at it, and went through and visited 
the wounded. 

Guards had now been put out for the night and men detailed 
to attend the wounded. I found an empty waggon near our 
bivouac, which had been damaged by a shell, and in this I lay 
down for the night. 

Whether there was anything in the air (which was strongly 
impregnated with the smell of powder, as there was not a 
breath of wind) I do not know, but I think I enjoyed the 
sweetest night's rest I ever enjoyed in my life. 

I awoke about dawn greatly refreshed. The morning was 
beautiful ; there was not a breath of air, and there was still a 
strong smell of saltpetre. At daylight everything was quiet. 
What a contrast to the previous morning ! and I remembered 
that many of my poor comrades would not have passed such a 
pleasant night. I got up and went to see how they had passed 
the night. Some of them had had a bad night and v^^ere in 
great pain. 

The bugle sounded for roll call, and large details were made 
to go and bury the remaining dead. Provision was made for 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 229 

having the wounded forwarded to Springfield, it being now 
known that the enemy had evacuated that town and retreated 
northwards. 

Arms were now cleaned, and ammunition pouches inspected 
and fresh ammunition served out. All serviceable arms lying 
on the field were gathered up, and the captured guns were 
brought into camp. 

The process of burying the dead was toilsome and got on 
slowly. In many places where the dead lay thick the ground 
was hard and rocky, and the bodies had to be dragged some 
distance to where pits could be dug. By the early part of the 
forenoon the sun got intensely hot, and some of the bodies 
began to show signs of decomposition, and the flies became 
intolerable, and the men could stand it no longer. 

About midday we received orders to march. The general, 
I understood, had made arrangements with the country people 
to bury the remainder of the dead. 

As we went out of camp we passed near the place where 
Woodrufi^'s battery had opened upon the enemy's cavalry. 
Some dead horses lay there. The flies were in myriads, and 
the smell was already unbearable. 

We marched northward for about five miles and encamped 
Sbt a place about four miles from Springfield. Here a general 
detail of the battle was gone into and our losses estimated. 

Our regiment had 47 killed and about 180 wounded. Our 
company seemed fortunate in having only 19 casualties; but 
then it was small in numbers, being about 80, while the other 
companies were over 100. It would seem at first the number 
of wounded was proportionately large to the number killed, 
but this is easily understood when the number that were 
merely grazed is looked at, the number hit with skin grazed 
or clothes cut being greater than the killed and wounded put 
together, showing how often a man may be hit before the 
bullet reaches a vital part. What was more astonishing still 
was the comparatively small number of casualties sustained 
considering the heavy fire the troops had been under. 

The total loss on our side was about 700 killed and about 
1700 wounded. The enemy's loss was calculated to be about 
1400 killed, about 2400 wounded, and about 200 prisoners. 
Of the wounded on both sides, about one-fourth would probably 
die of their wounds, and another fourth would never again be 
fit for service. 



230 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Of the total number of men engaged, there were upon our 
side between 14,000 and 15,000. The enemy, as usual, made 
many absurd and ridiculous statements about the smallness of 
their numbers ; but, making every allowance, they could not 
have had much less than 14,000 men. 

It was easy for us to form an idea of the strength of the 
enemy from the positions they occupied and their plan of 
attack, and General Lyon was too able a general to leave an 
advantageous position and attack us with an inferior force 
when he was provided in every way and could afford to lie 
and act on the defensive. 

The battle, though on a small scale, was considered a good 
battle. It was well fought throughout, skilfully managed and 
stubbornly contested on both sides, and lasted eight hours. 
That it resulted as it did may be ascribed to various causes, of 
which fortune no doubt formed part. The Federal commander 
showed no lack of skill, or his troops of bravery. ISTothing 
could excel the bravery of the United States regular troops, 
who fought on their left wing. What told most against them 
was their strict adherence to military rigidity and form of 
discipline, by standing up close and maintaining their line in 
the open field, making themselves conspicuous marks for the 
fire of their opponents, who fought in open ranks and kneeled 
down, forming a less prominent mark. 

But the great advantage in favour of the Confederate troops 
was their practical skill as marksmen. Accustomed, as many of 
them were from their boyhood to shooting with ball while 
hunting bears, deer, wild turkeys, and other game in the 
woods or on the prairies, their certainty of aim was acquired 
by instinct. 

The enemy had sHghtly the advantage of position. How 
they came to get this position and the unexpectedness of their 
attack has been a subject of conjecture and some criticism. 

It was certainly never expected by M'CuUoch that the 
enemy would advance from Springfield, where they were 
entrenching themselves after their retreat from Crane Creek. 
He never expected to fight at Wilson's Creek. He had not 
taken that position as an advantageous one for defence, but 
simply to concentrate his forces for an attack on Springfield. 
On the night of the 9th of August he had formed the line of 
march, but did not advance, owing to the rain. 

How the enemy got to know our exact location, and how he 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 231 

got forward during the night and had his artillery planted in 
such a commanding position as Oakhill on our front and the 
high table-land on our left, was somewhat of a mystery, and 
showed that he must have known exactly our movements on 
the previous day, though he could not have been aware of our 
intention to advance and attack him on the same night, as, if 
we had advanced as was intended, the two armies must have 
met unawares and encountered each other in the night, and 
the thing would have been a little complicated. 

How he had been informed so minutely of our position was 
a matter of surmise ; but the general impression was that the 
supposed party of ladies who had ridden through the camp on 
the preceding day were something else than what they pre- 
tended to be, and it was taken as a warning not to place too 
much dependence upon parties who professed great zeal in the 
Southern cause. 

Be this as it may, I believe this tended greatly to widen 
the breach between M'Culloch and Price ; at least after this 
battle they got to greater disagreeance than ever. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

SPECULATIONS AS TO OUE NEXT MOVEMENT— DIFFERENT OPINIONS OF THE 
GENERALS— AN EASY TIME IN CAMP—AWAITING ORDERS— SOME REMARKS 
ON INTEMPERANCE AND THE MEANS ADOPTED TO PREVENT IT — A DELIN- 
QUENT MEMBER UNDER ARREST— MARCH SOUTHWARD— ARRIVAL AT CAMP 
WALKER — COURT MARTIALS AND THEIR SENTENCES — AN ATTACK OF 
TYPHOID FEVER— A MYSTERIOUS BUILDING USED AS A HOSPITAL — NEWS 
AND PRESENTS FROM HOME— FRESH ENTHUSIASM— A SECOND ADVANCE 
OF THE ENEMY— THE ARMY AGAIN TAKES THE FIELD— A VISIT TO AN 
INDIAN'S FARM. 

It was now known that the enemy had retreated to RoUa, a 
place about 100 miles north from Springfield, and from which 
place there was communication with St. Louis by railway, 
that being as far south as railways then extended. 

The whole of the south-western part of Missouri was now 
cleared of Federal troops, though it was reported that a force 
was being raised in Kansas. 

After moving about and camping in several places in the 
neighbourhood of Springfield, we camped near a place called 
Mount Vernon, some distance to the west of Springfield. 
Here it was evident that we were to remain for a few days. 
Price's army was not with us, but encamped somewhere in the 
neighbourhood of Springfield ', it being necessary, in order to 
obtain forage and supplies, to divide the army and spread it 
more over the country. 

A regular camp was here formed, and we were ordered to 
resume our regular company and battalion drills. The finer 
points of our drill accomplishments had been somewhat rubbed 
off by the rougher and more practical work of the last few 
weeks. Our companies and battalions turned out in a some- 
what diminished form, and the boys, having had a slight taste 
of the actual, were inclined to look upon such things as drill 
with contempt, and seemed to think they were now perfect 
and should not be bored with drill. This was, however, only 
brought up in a sort of joking way, and drill was persevered 
in ; and, like a slightly blunted instrument they were soon 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 233 

sharpened up again, and, hardened by toil and trial, they 
were more efficient than ever. 

Their arms and accoutrements were polished and brightened 
up, which somewhat improved their appearance ; but their 
clothing or uniforms, as they were called, could not be so 
easily polished up, although they had, no doubt, a uniform 
appearance so far as being threadbare, and dirt and ragged- 
ness made them much alike. Having now some spare time, 
clothes were washed and mended, and even these got to be 
improved in appearance. 

But what was to be our next movement? Were we to 
march on to St. Louis or to act on the defensive ? We were 
about 200 miles from St. Louis, with roads obstructed and 
bridges destroyed, and through a country where the people, if 
not hostile, were not to be depended upon; our means of 
transport deficient, and too far from our base of operations to 
obtain any supplies — and there were but few supplies even at 
the base of operations. Our men were without clothing or 
shoes, and the winter approaching, and to march with our 
small force of about 12,000 men over this distance to attack a 
large city on a navigable river, where, by the time we got 
there, an army of 40,000 men and a fleet of gunboats might 
be waiting to receive us, and with a force in Kansas menacing 
our rear, to cut off" our retreat, probably did not seem to 
General M'Culloch to be a very prudent movement. We 
understood, however, that he was awaiting instructions from 
the War Department at Richmond, with some promise of rein- 
forcements and supplies. 

Price, on the other hand, seemed to place great dependence 
on his political influence. His proposal, we understood to 
be, was to call together a State Legislature in some part of 
Southern Missouri, pass an Act of Secession, declare the State 
out of the Union and joined to the Confederacy, and then 
march on St. Louis, when all the people in the State would 
declare in his favour and rally round his standard. 

M'Culloch did not seem to have much faith in such a pro- 
posal. He knew Price was very popular with such followers 
as had already joined him, but they were very poor and ill 
provided; and, although the whole of the southern part of 
Missouri was cleared of Federal troops, which was said to have 
been the cause which had prevented them from joining with 
the South, yet it was still very questionable what the feeling 



234 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

of the majority of the population might be, and therefore he 
did not care to trust much to outward demonstrations or the 
assurances of poHticians. 

It was supposed that these propositions had been laid before 
the War Department at Richmond, and we remained here 
awaiting orders. 

We had now nothing to do but a couple of hours' drill each 
day, wliich was altogether too Httle for men placed such as 
ours were. Fine spirited young fellows, hardened and finely 
trained by the wild outdoor Hfe, privations, toil, and excite- 
ment of the last four months, and now placed in a camp which 
was to them like a paradise, while farmers' waggons came to 
them every day selling at such cheap rates as quite astonished 
them such things as milk, butter, eggs, turkeys, common fowls, 
young pigs, potatoes, apples, peaches, honey, and other things 
with which this fine country abounded. The men lived in 
luxury, and the balmy air of the early autumn of this beautiful 
climate braced them up, and two, or at most three, hours' drill 
each day, and guard duty but hght, was a considerable change 
from the labours they had lately undergone. 

It might, therefore, be supposed that that meddling, 
mischief-making personage, who, I have no doubt, was at the 
bottom of this whole afiair, would be stirring them up to some 
wild pranks. These mischievous pranks were of frequent 
occurrence, although none of them were of a very bad or 
serious kind, but I had often to take some of the younger boys 
to task. 

It frequently happened on the marches, while bivouacking, 
that it was a little difficult at reveille to get some of the 
younger boys up, in order to get their breakfast cooked and be 
ready to fall in. Being amongst trees or bushes, there was no 
room to form the company in Hne, and they were just called 
together in any fashion, and having answered to their names, 
and heard any orders or details made, they proceeded to cook 
their breakfast and prepare for the march. 

Some of them, however, being sorely fatigued and loath to 
get up, would, when their names were called, cry " Here " from 
where they might be lying in their blanket near the root of a 
tree, thinking that in the darkness their position would not be 
discovered, and that they would thus get resting a little longer. 
This used to irritate me, and when they would cry " Here " 
without getting up, I would cry, " Where, sir. You are not 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 235 

here, and are marked absent," which was a delinquency which 
was always pretty severely punished by extra or fatigue duty. 

In this camp their conduct was quite changed, and having 
so little to do, they would be often up talking and making a 
noise long before roll-call, to the disturbance of others who 
wished to sleej), and these persons had been complaining to me 
about it. Intending to check the nuisance, I woke up one 
morning about two hours before roll-call, and heard much 
talking and laughing, I drew near quietly to listen. I heard 
the young rascals going through the form of calling the roll, 
one calling out the names, not only of the company, but of any 
notables in the regiment or army, while others would answer, 
accounting for them in some ridiculous way or as characteristic 
of the personage so called, something in this way : — R. C. — 
Playing poker; Captain L. — Writing love letters; General 
Price — Making a speech ; T. Gallagher (the name of the sutler) 
— Watering whisky ; R. M'C. — Writing poetry ; Lieutenant- 
Colonel H. — Got the gout; Colonel H. — Got Gallagher (a 
name given to an article sold by the sutler ; J. B, — In the 
guard-house ; W. I. — Away with Indian Sail ; Sergeant W. — 
" Here." " Where, sir 1 You are not here at all, but you 
come here saying you are here, whether you are here or not. 
I will mark you absent." This was too much for me ; I could 
stand it no longer ; I rushed in amongst them, threatening all 
sorts of punishments. The young rascals were all immediately 
down, and huddled up in their blankets, pretending to be 
asleep, though convulsed with laughter. Of course I could 
only caution them afterwards against making noise in the 
camp between tattoo and reveille and disturbing the rest of 
others. I liked the boys ; they were mere lads between 16 
and 20 years of age. 

Of the older members of the company, and indeed the whole 
regiment, the conduct on the whole was remarkably good. 
They, of course, nearly all occupied good and respectable 
stations in civil life previous to the war. But the mere fact of 
them being taken away from steady occupations and regular 
social habits and thrown into such a varied and exciting life, 
and divested of all care and responsibility beyond the duties of 
a soldier, seemed sufl&cient to justify many in regarding the 
affair as a frolic and make them give way to excesses and 
wantonness. While we are lying at this camp awaiting orders 
I will review our general behaviour from the time we first 



236 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

entered the service, and touch upon one great social evil 
which there was much temptation to indulge in — I mean 
drunkenness, and the means which were adopted to check it. 
It did seem at first that this was going to be a serious matter. 

The men of the country of which the regiment was composed 
were, in general, of sober habits, and except in cities such as 
New Orleans, which were supposed to be partly Europeanised, 
drunkenness did not prevail to such an extent as to be regarded 
as a serious evil. But the fact of so many men taken away 
from their regular duties, social habits, and responsibilities in 
civil life, and thrown together in the way I have described, 
did have its effect, and it began to show at Camp Walker in 
New Orleans. 

Rigid measures were adopted to stop the evil. These were, 
that the men should be prevented from getting liquor. 
Accordingly, every place in the neighbourhood of the camp 
where liquor was sold was shut up. The severest penalties 
were imposed upon anyone bringing liquor into the camp, and 
all packages and parcels coming into camp for private 
individuals were subject to search. Leave of absence from the 
camp was limited and restricted. 

In any company in which a certain number of cases of 
drunkenness was recorded, the leave of the whole company 
was stopped for a time. This last seemed a little hard, but it 
was intended to throw the responsibility on the company in 
general, and induce them to use their endeavours to keep 
their members sober. To the drunkards themselves this order 
did not apply, no punishment or penalty was attached except that 
they should be kept under proper guard or control until sober. 

These regulations were read out in " General Orders," and 
were at first logically approved of • 

It was not long, however, until the futility of such measures 
became lamentably apparent. Drunkenness did not diminish 
in any way, but increased at a fearful rate. Men who had 
always before been strictly sober in their habits were now to 
be seen reeling mad with drink, and while their comrades 
would be trying to keep them quiet they would become more 
infuriated, ofiering to fight the whole camp individually or 
collectively, and pouring out torrents of abuse and defiance 
against the authors of such an order, and some of them I 
believe not so drunk as they pretended to be, affirming that 
they never in their life had been drunk before, and did not 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 237 

care for drink, but they intended to show General Tracy or 
those who issued this order, that if they wanted to get drink 
they would have it in spite of all the orders and restrictions 
he might impose. 

Such scenes were not isolated occurrences, but were numerous, 
and it seemed, as some of the boys remarked, that General 
Orders No. — had set everyone on the spree. 

It now seemed that many of the men had taken the order 
as a gross insult to their honour and integrity ; that instead 
of punishing and restricting the few of the ill-behaved, who 
were the cause of the evil, they were exonerating them from 
responsibility, justifying and protecting them, and for their 
sakes punishing and degrading the large body who wished 
to be sober, law abiding, and dutiful, and that they were just 
doing their best to create drunkards. 

War was declared against the order by an almost unanimous 
desire to show the fallacy of it, and things got daily worse. 
Men who before would have scorned to walk ten yards for all 
the drink in the city, and who would have denounced and 
despised a drunkard, were now ready to join in, or at least to 
wink at, any attempt to circumvent the order, and to do so was 
regarded with applause. 

The men, to show their contempt for an order sought to be 
enforced without regard to their honour, would mount on each 
other's backs and climb over the wall at night, and by pre- 
concerted signals flasks of liquor were thrown over the wall, 
and any device whereby liquor was brought into camp in 
violation of the order was regarded as a merit and applauded. 

This state of things continued when we left New Orleans. 
The order, of course, being a camp order, did not go with us, 
but its evil effects did, and the same policy was continued with 
no better results ; and at Little Rock and Fort Smith we had 
a good deal of trouble, and some measures were adopted, such 
as destroying the drink in the neighbourhood, but this had no 
effect ; the more they tried to keep drink from the men the 
more the men strove to have it, and disturbances in the camp 
were frequent. 

By the rules of the service a sutler's store and canteen 
should be attached to a regiment. This was considered an 
actual necessity ; but to have such a thing would strangely 
conflict with the policy which was being adopted in regard to 
drunkenness. 



238 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

At length the sober and law-abiding portion of the regiment, 
which consisted of at least 95 per cent, of the whole, formed a 
code of resolutions to be adopted as a general principle. 

These resolutions affirmed that men were not children, and 
were able to take care of themselves, and must be held 
responsible for their own actions, and that drunkards were not 
entitled to any undue protection or indulgence. 

That drunkenness was unmanly and disgusting, and such as 
made a merit of indulging in it were unworthy of the associa- 
tion of brave and honourable men. 

That those who took drink and became quarrelsome or 
indulged in riot or braggadocio were poltroons or cowards, 
who dared not in their sober senses give vent to their passions, 
but took drink to give them " Dutch courage." 

That drunkenness was demoralizing and injurious to the 
service, and should in every way be discountenanced and 
discouraged; but if suppressed by authority, it should be 
the drunkards themselves that should be dealt with, without 
punishing or restricting the liberties of the sober and well- 
behaved. 

That the silly plea of temptation set up in their behalf only 
tended to make men believe that if they could get liquor they 
were justified in getting drunk, and that the fault did not lie 
with them, but with those who sold or gave them the Hquor, 
and that such doctrines tended to weaken men's minds and 
tempt them to cast off honourable responsibilities, and were 
destructive to manly resolution and self-respect, and only 
served to promote drunkenness. 

That if a man got drunk and become quarrelsome or riotous 
he should be immediately seized and bound, and put into 
confinement, and afterwards punished; no one should be 
allowed to speak to him, and any one interfering on his behalf 
or obstructing the police guard in executing their duty, should 
also be strictly punished ; and, further, that the vagaries of a 
drunken man should never be applauded, or laughed at, or 
regarded with complacency. 

Of course no " General Order " of this kind was issued, but 
such principles were promulgated as being the feeling and 
sentiments of the regiment, and these were brought under the 
notice of General M'CuUoch, who expressed his approval in a 
" General Order " appointing a sutler. The substance of this 
order was : that he trusted that men such as they had some 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 239 

resolution and strength of mind, and would not sacrifice their 
self-respect under a plea applicable only to children, and old 
women of both sexes, that because liquor was obtainable they 
must needs make beasts of themselves. He would be ashamed 
to say that a canteen could not be attached to a regiment, or 
that the regular and lawful use of liquor must be suppressed 
among the civil inhabitants of the district, because of the 
weakness of his men, and he did not wish to have such men in 
his army. He regarded men who must get drunk because 
liquor was obtainable as despicable sots, unfit for the com- 
panionship of respectable men and true soldiers, a nuisance to 
society, and the sooner they drank themselves off the face of 
the earth the better. 

This manifesto was received with great satisfaction and 
applause. It was known that " Ben," as the General was 
called, was not a total abstainer, but a strictly temperate man, 
and no man knew better how to use and not abuse the subject 
in question. Although it was not to be supposed that every 
man was possessed of the same strength of mind, it was 
universally allowed, and afterwards proved, that to strengthen 
their minds he had touched the proper chord ; and no better 
appeal could have been made or a better policy adopted. 

This new view of the subject was endorsed and a new system 
pursued. Drunkards were no longer sympathised with, coaxed 
or petted, but more strictly dealt with. A sutler's canteen was 
attached to the regiment, so that liquor was no longer a pro- 
scribed or forbidden article. By this, the plea or excuse of a 
clever or smart trick could no longer be applied to cover the 
bringing of liquor into the camp, or to getting out clandestinely 
to obtain it, and the responsibility for good behaviour was left 
more to the men's own honour and self-respect. 

The effect produced was marvellous, few of the men had yet 
become habituated to drink, and cases of drunkenness became 
exceedingly rare. If any one did so far forget himself, it was 
remarkable to see the change in his behaviour, even when 
drunk ; instead of assuming a bullying or swaggering attitude 
he would now creep quietly out of sight and try to prevent the 
thing being known, and seemed to feel ashamed of his conduct 
instead of boasting of it as formerly. In short, drunkenness 
almost entirely disappeared, and at this time, after four 
months' service, I may safely say that as a whole a more sober 
and orderly set of men could not be found in any sphere of 



240 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

life. There was no doubt always a love for frolic and miscliief , 
but drunkenness was regarded as low and vulgar. Of course 
there were always exceptions, and some were more diffi- 
cult to cure than others, and each company generally had 
their pest. 

To show the stubborn spirit of opposition which some men 
will display in such things, I may mention a little incident 
which happened not long after the new resolutions had been 
adopted. 

There was in one of the Red River companies a little Irish- 
man, named Dan, who did not quite agree mth the spirit of 
the resolutions. Honour and self-respect he considered all 
very well in their way, but he did not like such things to 
interfere with his whisky. He did not so much object to the 
order given at New Orleans by General Tracy, because if they 
thought to put whisky beyond his reach they would have to 
put it a good long way indeed. He was enterprising, and 
could obtain it ; and the more difficulty there was in obtaining 
it the more delicious and enjoyable it became. He enjoyed 
the fun of getting it, and liked to boast of it, and it was a 

common expression of Dan's, " That he wouldn't give a d n 

for drink if it did not give him some trouble to get it, but to 
punish a man because he took a drop of drink he considered a 
deadly sin." 

While we were at Camp Walker, Arkansas, although plenty 
of liquor could be had at the sutler's canteen, Dan and some 
others got out of camp one night and went about seven miles 
to a distillery, where they got their canteens filled, and, of 
course, got drunk. For this they were punished and put to 
hard labour at chopping wood, but as two days afterwards we 
started on the march into Missouri they were, as a continu- 
ance of the punishment, ordered to carry their knapsacks on 
the march. The weather was intensely hot, and the men thus 
punished suffered so much from thirst, and the demands for 
water became so great, that the doctor requested that the 
knapsacks should be taken offi A halt was called, and the 
men were ordered to take off their knapsacks. They were now 
somewhat repentant, and gladly took them off, most of them 
declaring that they would never make such fools of them- 
selves again, while Dan, seemingly disgusted at what he con- 
sidered their weakness in thus giving in, as it were, stoutly 
refused to put off his knapsack. He said he would just be 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 241 

d d if he would put it off; he was able to carry his knap- 
sack, and he was going to do it. Dan was taken at his word 
and allowed to carry it ; and afterwards, for many a day, Dan 
trudged along with his knapsack on his back, his trousers 
rolled up to his knees, his thoughts to himself, scarcely speak- 
ing to anyone, generally preferring, if possible, to get out of 
the ranks and walk by himself in the prairie on either side of 
the road. I never heard of him being in any more drunken 
scrapes. He would drink, no doubt, but he would do it on 
the quiet and by himself, as whisky frolics were no longer 
popular. 

In our company we had one incorrigible named Joe, who 
gave a good deal of trouble. Joe in civil life was a marble- 
cutter or sculptor, and was a young man of some refinement 
and culture, and held a good position ; but on giving up civil 
life he seemed to have divested himself of all care and responsi- 
bility. Joe was not so much of a drunkard as a general 
delinquent. He had considerable talent, but so little applica- 
tion that he seemed silly and inclined to glory in making him- 
self look stupid. He was most obedient and submissive, but 
would forget, or feign to forget, in five minutes what was told 
him. He had to be driven to everything. His great besetting 
fault was absenting himself from the camp and from his duty, 
and going after women, with whom he seemed to have been a 
general favourite, and in whose company he probably was less, 
stupid. 

At this camp at Mount Vernon Joe got into a very serious 
difficulty. He was found, as a sentinel, sleeping on his post. 
This was a grave offence, and was punishable by death ; and, 
had we been in presence of the enemy, this sentence might 
have been carried out. He was put under a strict guard, to 
be tried by court-martial. 

I may also mention that we had in our company an Irish- 
man named Tim D., who was a man of a very different stamp 
from the last described. Tim was a highly respectable man of 
good education, though he still retained a bit of the brogue. 
Tim was zealous in his duty, an excellent soldier, and very 
popular with the company on account of his bluntness and 
simple good-nature. In civil life he had long been employed 
as a clerk in the office of a newspaper in Baton Rouge, which 
was devoted to the interests of the Democratic party, of which 
party Tim was a devoted adherent. The contemporary and 

Q 



242 LIFE IN THE CONFEDEKATE ARMY. 

rival of that paper was devoted to the interests of the " Native 
American" party, which, as a party, was somewhat hostile to 
foreigners ; and that paper had for its motto a saying or order, 
which they maintained had once been given by Washington 
on some particular emergency, the words of which were, " Put 
none but Americans on guard to-night," as if implying that 
foreigners were not to be trusted. 

Several of the officers of our regiment had formerly belonged 
to that party and supported the latter paper, and Tim lost no 
opportunity when guard duty had become oppressive and the 
men were tired, or the night was bad, or the post dangerous, to 
retort on them the words of the motto, and recommend them 
to "put none but Americans on guard to-night," and the good 
natured banter between Tim as a " Naturalised Foreigner " and 
some of the old supporters of the " Native American Party " 
caused a good deal of amusement. 

We had been in this camp about three weeks and it was 
now into September, and we at length received orders to 
march. The order said " the movement was not a retrograde 
one," but did not say where we were going to be sent to. In 
the same orders the thanks of the Congress at Richmond was 
tendered to the army for the victory of Oakhill, as the battle 
was called by the Confederates, though by the Federals it was 
called the battle of Wilson's Creek. Special mention was also 
made of the gallantry of the 3rd Louisiana Regiment in 
capturing Siegel's battery. 

Our regiment got great praise for capturing this battery, but 
it seemed to me to be more of a sudden rush and surprise of 
the enemy than a desperate fight, and I thought their deter- 
mined and stubborn fight with, and defeat of, the United 
States' Regulars in the morning was worth three times the 
praise. It was, however, a valuable capture, and the attack 
was well conducted by General M'Culloch. 

We were to march at daybreak, the captured guns to be 
taken along, and the whole of our brigade to be under the 
command of Colonel H. (our colonel.) The line was formed 
at daybreak, our regiment as usual on the right. Our colonel 
being in command of the whole brigade, of course was not 
seen at all by us. Our lieutenant-colonel and major were 
both absent, and the regiment was commanded by a captain. 

The conjecture throughout the army was. Where would we 
be going to ? — and there were many surmises and rumours. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 243 

In marching, when the road was narrow and confined, the 
troops generally marched in files of two, but when the road 
was sufficiently broad and would admit of it, they doubled 
ranks and marched in files of four. This gave greater room 
between the files and gave more freedom and air to the men. 
At tliis place the road was broad and good, and the captain 
commanding, when giving the orders to advance, intending 
them to double ranks and form files of four, thought to make 
a little improvement in the manner of giving the order according 
to his own notion. So he gave the command : — " By doubling." 
" Right face." " Forward, march ! " 

"To Dublin, by jabers," shouted Tim D. "Arrah, good 
luck, me boys, we are going to Dublin. Shure the gineral has 
found out the right place to go to at last." 

"Where do you say we are going to?" cried two or three 
voices. 

" To Dublin, don't you hear?" cried Tim. 

"Shut up, you bogtrotter!" cried some of the boys. 

" Ah ! ha ! me boys," continued Tim, " when yees gets to 
Dublin, it will be you uns will be the 'Foreigners' there, 
and it will be me that ^^dll be the ^ Native American.' " 

We marched westward, and the supposition at first was that 
we were going into Kansas, but the programme was soon made 
known. 

The Confederate Government not being able to send rein- 
forcements, or equip the army so as to warrant a forward 
movement on St. Louis, the arrangement seems to have been 
that General M'CuUoch with his Confederate troops should 
fall back within the Confederate lines nearer his base of 
supplies; that Price should establish his head-quarters at 
Springfield, and use his political influence in drawing men to 
his standard, raise as large a force as possible, and more 
completely organise his army. About 3000 stand of superior 
arms, which had been captured at Oakhill, were handed over 
to him. While M'Culloch would also try to augment his 
a,rmy, and be within supporting distance of Price, and still not 
impoverish the district of Springfield by the presence of his 
army, but leave all the resources for Price's troops, while the 
latter should watch the movements of the enemy. Such was 
the position, as we were given to understand ; but there was 
evidently some hitch or deadlock somewhere, and there was a 
good deal of talk and surmise. 



244 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Price and M'CuUoch were certainly not on very good terms. 
Price and his army were not in the service of the Confederate 
States. They took the name of and acted as " Missouri State 
Troops;" and Missouri had not formally seceded from the Union 
and joined the Confederacy, and they were thus acting in a 
manner independently. 

No doubt the Confederate Government wished to humour 
General Price and get his alliance and assistance in checking 
the advance of the Federals, and, if possible, bringing over to 
them the State of Missouri ; but from the position in which he 
stood, they had no control over him or his forces. 

I have heard it said, although with what truth I do not 
know, that the conditions were that Price with his army would 
join the Confederate service if he were made a major-general 
and have full command of the Army of the West. 

On the other hand, M'Culloch was not sufficient of a red- 
tapeist or a politician to be much of a court favourite, and his 
influence at Richmond was not great ; but his known ability 
for command, and the confidence reposed in him by his army, 
seemed to convince the War Department that to interfere with 
him in any way would be bad policy. 

However this might be, there was a misunderstanding and 
mismanagement somewhere, and though the victory at Oakhill 
had given us control of Southern Missouri, no advantage was 
taken of it, or obtained from it in the way of advancing. 

We marched westward by the way of Sarcoxie and towards 
the Kansas border, thence southward through a country 
abounding in lead ore, the land on each side of the road being 
honeycombed with pits, varying in depth from three to 30 feet, 
from which the ore had been dug, each in itself being a 
miniature lead mine. We also passed, somewhere in this 
neighbourhood, I forget where, numerous small pits from which 
coal had been taken at two or three feet from the surface. 

As we had now no enemy to deal with, the march was not 
marked by any particular incident. The weather had become 
rather wet, and the marching got dull. 

There had been some few delinquents for various offences 
sent on to Fayetteville, where a court-martial was to be held, 
and the only prisoner under guard was the last delinquent, 
" Joe," of our company, caught sleeping on post, and he was 
taken along under charge of the brigade guard. There was 
no guard tent, and the prisoner had just to lie down on the 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 245 

ground at night, and a sentinel stood guard over him. Joe 
somehow always managed to make out pretty easily, and 
looked more stupid than ever, but his stupidness was only in 
appearance. 

One wet and cheerless night, after a long day's march, Joe 
was lying rolled in his blanket alongside of a fallen tree. It 
was long past midnight, and all around were fast asleep. The 
sentinel, fatigued after his day's march, felt it hard to keep 
standing on his feet, and, seeing his charge fast asleep, he sat 
down on a block of wood beside the sleeping prisoner, placed 
the butt of his musket on the ground, wrapped his blanket 
round his shoulders, and leant his back against the fallen tree. 
The poor fellow, overcome with fatigue, soon dropped asleep, 
and his hands relaxing the grasp of his musket, it fell down 
across the body of the prisoner. The musket falling upon Joe 
woke him up ; he looked around and soon realised the position. 
He rose quietly, took up the musket, and, taking the post of 
the sentinel, kept guard until the relief came round. Having 
crossed arms, he passed the order : " Duty to guard this 
prisoner," said he, pointing to the sleeping man ; " he is some- 
thing of a lunatic, and if he awakens will probably want to take 
your arms and say that he is the sentinel, so you must be on 
the look-out." So saying, Joe went off to his company's bivouac, 
got into a tent, and made himself comfortable for the rest of 
the night, saying, in answer to inquiries, that he had been 
relieved. 

Next morning it was noised around that a sentinel had slept 
on his post and that a prisoner had escaped. Joe was imme- 
diately sent back to the charge of the guard, having obtained 
but very temporary relief. Joe had a peculiar drawling or 
plaintive way of talking, and spoke as if half -crying, and on 
this occasion said he thought he was entitled to some con- 
sideration, as he had filled the vacant post which had been left 
unguarded. 

About two days after this we arrived at Camp Walker in 
Arkansas, which we had left about the end of July, and where 
we were to rest for the present. 

Camp Walker, in Arkansas, though greatly superior in every 
way to its namesake at New Orleans, was still not a favourite 
camp, and we trusted we would not be long here. The usual 
routine of camp life and drill was continued. We here got to 
learn a little of how the war had been progressing. The Con- 



246 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

federates had been successful in general, but the more thought- 
ful did not consider that this would tend towards an early- 
termination of the war, and that we might look out for desperate 
work to come unless something turned up. ISTo reinforcements 
were likely to be forthcoming, except some newly-appointed 
officers who had been sent by the War Department to fill offices 
in the Army of the West ; but these were very poor reinforce- 
ments indeed. These offices were mostly at stations and depots, 
and were mostly sinecures, and, as was generally allowed, were 
created more for the benefit of the incumbents than for any 
actual use they would be to the service. 

These appointments were of course to the sons of wealthy 
men, politicians, and court favourites. They each, of course, 
held a commission, with a certain rank, by which they obtained 
the honour of being in the army, and walked about in hand- 
some uniforms without being exposed to the dangers or hard- 
ships of the field. Certain of these, with a sprinkhng of field 
and line officers, now sat on a general court-martial being held 
at Fayetteville to try such cases as had been standing over, 
and a few days after our arrival in this camp one of their 
sentences was being carried out, which was a " drumming out." 

The culprit belonged to one of the Arkansas regiments, and 
was of such a depraved character that I do not think they 
could have imposed a sentence that would have 23leased him 
better. It was a cold evening in October, the whole brigade 
was drawn out with ranks facing inwards. The prisoner was 
stripped of his uniform, such as it was, and dressed in a felon's 
suit, which we thought, as we stood shivering in the threadbare 
and tattered remains of our thin summer uniforms, would be 
to him at least a pleasant change. His head was shaved bare 
and a board hung round his neck with the word " thief " 
painted upon it in large letters. The fellow was marched along 
the line between the ranks, followed by a fife and drum playing 
the " Rogue's March," to which he kept time pretty well. 

He walked along philosophically, casting an eye of contempt 
on the ragged and destitute-looking men on each side of him, 
as much as to say, " There is not much more to steal from you ; 
I am going to ' fresh fields and pastures new.' " How he had 
got into the regiment it is difficult to say, as these Arkansas 
men, whatever other vices they might have, that of thieving 
was not predominant. 

About this time, perhaps owing to a change from a period 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 247 

of excitement, toil, and activity under a hot sun, to a state of 
comparative inactivity in a cold, wet climate, without adequate 
clothing or shoes, quite a number were taken down with fever, 
said to be some sort of "typhoid fever," and I also was seized 
with it, and confined to my tent. The poor boys were exceed- 
ingly kind, bringing their blankets to wrap me up, contenting 
themselves to sleep at night two under one blanket that they 
might spare me one. 

While I was ill J. S. came to see me and take good-bye. 
His trial was over and his sentence passed. He was dismissed 
from the service, declared to be unfit for it by a mental 
incapacity brought on by the excessive use of opium. Whether 
this may have been so or not I do not know. He spoke to me 
that day more freely and sensibly than since we had left New 
Orleans, but on taking leave he fairly broke down, and I have 
never seen him since. About two days afterwards, Joe's 
sentence was read out on parade. He had completely exhausted 
the patience of the judge-advocate by his drawling indifference. 
His sentence was that he was to be sent back to his company, 
and kept at hard fatigue duty and fed upon bread and water 
for a period of 60 days. I was annoyed at the absurdity of 
the sentence, in sending the man back to his company for the 
sentence to be carried out, and I asked the captain how he 
thought it could be carried out if the company was on the 
march. He said the sentence could not be carried out at all, 
but that such a sentence was quite worthy of the uniformed 
fools from Richmond, who possessed no better judgment. I 
could now see that the sinecure appointments by the War 
Department had caused much dissatisfaction amongst officers of 
all classes in the active service. 

I had imagined myself recovered from the fever, and was up 
and moving about, but found that I had got up too soon, and 
was seized with a sudden relapse. I was taken to the officers' 
tent, the chief physician of the division sent for, and every 
care taken, but I soon became delirious and remained less or 
more insensible for several days. 

When I came to my senses, I found myself on a good bed in 
a room by myself, and the surroundings led me to fancy myself 
back into civil life again, and the exciting events of the past 
six months all a gigantic dream. On a table on the opposite 
side of the room was piled a quantity of new clothing and 
several parcels, but hanging on the wall were my belt and sabre, 



248 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

reminding me of the truth. I tried to get up but found that 
I was too weak, and just then the door opened slowly, and in 
came a lad, E., of our company. He was glad when he saw 
me again in my senses. I asked if this was an hospital, or 
where, or what sort of a place it was. He said this was some 
three or four piiles from the camp. It was a great big house, 
built by some strange class of people, but who had deserted it, 
and it was being used for an hospital, to which all the sick had 
been brought over, and he had been detailed specially to attend 
to me. Some few more of the company were here sick, some 
men of the regiment had died, and a good many were still sick, 
but the house was big enough to hold half of the brigade. 

" But I see you have got a new rig — where did you get 
that ?" said I, referring to a new suit of clothes I saw he had 
got on. " Oh," said he, " you don't know about that yet. A 
whole waggon load of things has come from Baton Kouge to 
us with new clothes, shoes, stockings, shirts, and all sorts of 
presents and good things, with letters and papers telling all 
about the battle, and these are youi^s lying on the table." I told 
him to hand me the letters. I took the fii^st one, which I saw 
was from my partner, and was reading it when the doctor 
came in. He was the same orderly sergeant, now Dr. C, who 
had volunteered his assistance to the surgeons after the battle 
of Oakhill. He was now regularly appointed as surgeon of 
the regiment, which was one wise appointment. He was glad 
to see the improvement in me, but cautioned me against 
exerting myself just yet. 

At this time, by some new order or regulation, it was made 
known that a company was entitled to three lieutenants instead 
of two ; and as our company had at present actually no lieu- 
tenant, the first lieutenant being hors de combat from the wound 
received at Oakhill, and the second lieutenant on detached 
service, an order was issued for the company to elect another 
lieutenant. A deputation came to me to ask if I still adhered 
to my determination. I still adhered to my determination and 
refused to become a candidate, but recommended Corporal G., 
who was a personal friend of mine, and had distinguished 
himself at Oakhill, and I was afterwards glad to find that he 
had been elected. 

I was well taken care of at this hospital, and began to 
recover rapidly. 

When I had been here about a week a sudden call was 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 249 

made for the army to march northward again, the Federals 
having raised a large army in the "Western States, and General 
Halleck, with a force of 25,000 men, was marching upon 
Springfield. 

Before marching the troops got their pay in Confederate 
scrip. This was the first pay they had got, and my pay was 
brought to me by the captain. 

I was declared by the surgeon to be unfit to take the field 
for at least two weeks yet, so I was ordered to remain where I 
was for that time. 

As many of the company as could get away came to visit me 
before they departed on their second march into Missouri. 
They were now in good condition, with good warm clothing, 
shoes, stockings, blankets, and other comforts, which had been 
carefully got up for them by their friends, and by the ladies of 
Baton Rouge for such as had no relations in that place ; and 
the many little presents and kind letters of encouragement and 
commendations of their bravery had completely set the boys 
on fire, and they went ofi" on what seemed to be a winter 
campaign with more spirit than ever. 

Sick and tired as I was of the service, I could not help 
sharing in their enthusiasm, and when I came to open and 
examine my packet and found in addition to the more sub- 
stantial necessaries of blankets, clothing, shirts, shoes, and 
stockings, and many little gifts, besides several affecting 
letters from mothers who were strangers to me, but thanking 
me for the care over their boys, I confess I got fired with 
the same enthusiasm, and became impatient to go and join the 
company. I mention this to show the great effect that a little 
encouragement from their homes has upon volunteer soldiers. 

In a few days after the army marched I was able to leave 
my room and take a look round this strange building. It was 
an enormous building of wood, and seemed never to have been 
completely finished. It was outside of the limits of the State of 
Arkansas and the United States, and within the "Indian 
Territory." It was said to have been built by some peculiar 
sect of people, having some singular belief or ideas of their 
own, who wished to establish a colony or settlement, and it 
seemed as if they desired to be beyond the jurisdiction of the 
laws of the United States or the State of Arkansas. It was 
now completely deserted by its founders, although there was 
evidence of its having been partly occupied not long previous. 



250 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Large quantities of apples and dried peaches were lying 
carelessly on the floors of some of the lower rooms, but there 
was very little furniture of any kind except tables and seats, of 
which there were abundance. There were several large halls, 
furnished with seats, as if for teaching, lecturing, or places of 
worshijo. 

One wing of this building only had been adopted by General 
M'Culloch as an hospital, and in it there were over 100 men 
of the division, being the sick and their attendants. 

In this neighbourhood, being just the border of the " Indian 
Territory," there were few full-blooded Indians; the inhabitants 
were mostly white or " half-breeds," but were under the 
jurisdiction of the Indian Government. 

The " half-breeds " seemed to be a quiet class of people, 
fairly civilised, and possessed of an ordinary degree of intelli- 
gence. Their houses were mostly log or frame houses of more 
or less pretentions according to their means. They cultivated 
Indian corn, wheat, oats, fruit, and vegetables ; but their atten- 
tion was chiefly turned to live stock, such as horses, cattle, and 
poultry. I saw few sheep in these parts, but great abundance of 
pigs, which, as in other parts of the country, ran^vild in the woods. 

These " half-breeds " came daily to the hospital, the better 
class of them in their spring waggons, bringing for sale, deer, 
poultry, butter, milk, eggs, honey, and fruit, which they sold 
cheap and found a ready market. 

One of these half-breeds I noted, Avhose dress and manner, as 
well as the superior appearance of his horse and spring waggon, 
showed him to be a man of somewhat better standing than the 
generality of the others. With this man I sometimes engaged 
in conversation, and found him to be a man of considerable 
intelligence and some education. He brought me a newspaper, 
which was published in a small town near his residence. One 
half of the paper was in English, and the other half in the 
Indian language. This man came to the hospital every morn- 
ing and I had many conversations with him. He was just 
about half-blood between Indian and white, but his sympathies 
were entirely Indian. On his learning that I was not an 
American but a Scotchman, he became more interested and 
spoke more freely. He said he had read some books about 
Scotland, which he liked much. He offered to drive me out to 
his place if I would go out and stop a night Avith him, and I 
agreed to go. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 251 

His place was about seven miles out : a good substantial 
farm building, equal to that of the better class of farmers in 
Arkansas, His ^viie was nearly a full-blooded Indian, but spoke 
English well. He had several children, whom he was taking- 
care to educate. 

The house was as well furnished as the generality of such 
houses are within the States, and bespoke cleanliness and 
comfort. Food they had in abundance, and we had an excel- 
lent supper off some roast venison and wild turkey. In the 
room I noticed several books, amongst which I observed a 
volume of " Scott's Poetical Works." He saw me looking at 
it, and said I would know that book. On my replying in the 
affirmative, he referred to the " Lady of the Lake," which he 
said he greatly admired, and went on to recite from memory 
some parts of it relating the meeting of Fitz James with 
Roderick Dhu. He particularly admired that part of the 
poem. He compared the Gaels to the Indians, and the Saxons 
to the whites in America, and quoting several passages, drew 
some very fair comparisons. 

Just at the time some of his Indian friends dropped in on 
an evening visit. He introduced me to them. They nearly 
all spoke English and were more or less educated. He then 
went on, by way of entertainment, to explain to them the story, 
and quoting arguments advanced by Roderick in favour of the 
Gaels as analagous to what might be advanced in favour of 
the Indians. He became quite enthusiastic and seemed to 
draw the comparison so well that I reminded him that although 
I was his guest that night, and that I expected in the morning 
that he would conduct me safely back to the Confederate camp, 
I hoped he would not imitate Roderick at " Colintogie's Ford," 
or some other ford, in demanding me to draw and meet him 
"man to man and steel to steel." This, as was intended, 
produced a laugh, and the conversation took another turn. 

Of course the war was the all-absorbing topic of conversation 
everywhere, and that became the principal subject. I found 
the Indians generally in favour of the South, not so much out 
of any sympathy, but the idea seemed to be, as my friend said, 
that if the States were di\T.ded into two nations, the indepen- 
dence of the Indian nation would be more strictly defined, and 
there would then be a Northern nation, a Southern nation, 
and an Indian nation. Some of the others seemed to favour 
the South because they considered the South respected the 



252 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Indian more than the North, and did not rate him so much in 
the same class with the Negro. No greater insult could be 
offered to an Indian than to regard him in any way as com- 
pared to the Negro race, and there is certainly but little room 
for comparison. 

I was very much pleased with the general intelligence of the 
company, to me strange as it was. 

The American Indians, no matter how well civilised or 
educated they may be, are not by nature a talkative people. 
In tins company they spoke with less restraint than I ever 
knew them at any other time. 'Tis true it was within their 
own territory and government, and within their own homes ; 
but my host spoke more than all the others put together. He 
was, of course, the nearest related by blood to the whites, and 
had been oftener in communication with the outer world. The 
night was spent pleasantly and all manner of subjects turned 
over- — races, nations, governments, wars, etc. 

In the morning my host showed me over a part of his farm 
and possessions. He had several negro servants at work ; 
whether they were slaves or not I did not inquire. His crops 
had been gathered in, and he had several houses well stocked 
with Indian corn, and a good stock of wheat. He had a large 
number of horses, most of which roamed on the prairies, 
several cows with calves, and a large number of cattle on the 
prairie. He had abundance of poultry, and, of course, his 
share of the public piggery in the forests. 

We had breakfast of some good bacon with eggs, and some 
broiled chickens and prairie hen. Coffee was prepared on my 
account, the younger members of the family having mush 
(corn-meal porridge) and milk. For sugar they had maple 
sugar and a syrup made from the sorgho plant or Chinese 
sugar-cane, which grows here abundantly. 

After breakfast we drove back to the hospital, he taking, as 
usual, his produce for sale. The country abounded with game, 
such as deer, wild turkeys, prairie hens ; there were also some 
buffaloes, but these were now getting scarce. My host had a 
large number of fine buffalo robes, one of which I bought from 
him, and recommended him to bring in some to the hospital, 
where I expected he would fijid a ready market, which he did. 

I found my host was a sort of petty cliief among the Indians. 
He was a member of some legislature, and transacted a good 
deal of business with the whites on behalf of his neighbours. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 253 

I asked him about the demoralizing effects of drink among 
the Indians. He said that in some places it was bad, but in 
this district and among his tribe it was little known. 

As we drew near to the hospital, I asked him about the 
history of the building and how it came to be erected. He 
could not very well tell, but it was some kind of people who 
wished to establish a settlement there. What sect they were 
of he could not tell, but they were not "Mormons" or "Shakers," 
as I had supposed, but some kind of Socialistic brethren, who 
were to be all equal and to have no rich and no poor, and 
among whom all things were to be held as common property — 
free and open to all. " But," continued he, " it did not succeed, 
for, before they had got the building finished, they began to 
quarrel and fight among themselves, just like at the big Babel 
which we read about in the Bible, and everyone went away 
his own road." 

He did not think that either Indians or whites had got good 
enough yet to live together in that sort of way. 

We now arrived at the hospital, and I thanked my host 
most sincerely for his kindness and hospitality, hoping to be 
able, when peaceful times came, to repay it, which I regret I 
have never been able to do. 

A day or two after this. General M'CuUoch came along and 
visited the hospital. He was on his way to the front to join 
the army, and I believe had just a day or two before returned 
from the front. Fifty or sixty miles in a day was nothing for 
the general to cover, bad as the roads were. I saw that he, 
like the rest of us, had got a new rig-out, which he stood much 
in need of. I may here say that General M'Culloch never 
wore any kind of uniform or sword. He considered the latter 
was only a useless ornament, and was an encumbrance, and 
added weight to his horse. He carried only a field-glass and a 
small rifle, with which he was said to be a deadly shot from his 
seat in the saddle. He wore a high-crowned felt hat, and a 
suit of plain clothes, the original colour of which might have 
been a dark grey, but the last time I had seen him they were 
rather threadbare. He had now got a new suit of the same 
kind, and looked quite renovated. 

He gave directions that in a few days some waggons would 
be going to the front, when all those recovered and fit for 
service would accompany them, forming an armed escort in 
charge of an officer. 



CHAPTER XX. 

CONVALESCENTS PROCEEDING TO JOIN THE ARMT— A PEEP INTO THE PUBLIC 
SCHOOLS— A QUICK TURN BACK— CRITICAL POSITION OF THE ARMY — 
A COURT-MARTIAL SENTENCE CARRIED OUT IN THE COMPANY — A BETTER 
POSITION— ACTING ON THE DEFENSIVE— THE REGIMENT ADOPTS A PET — 
THE PET VIOLATES THE REGULATIONS IN RESPECT TO HONOUR DUE TO 
RANK— RETREAT OF THE ENEMY— WINTER QUARTERS. 

About a week after the general's visit two waggons -with. 
some valuable stores on their way to the front stopped 
at the hospital to pick up an armed escort. All con- 
valescents then declared by the doctor to be fit for duty, 
about 26 in all, mostly young lads, got ready and put their 
baggage into one of the waggons. I was ordered to take 
command of the escort, and one of the teamsters, knowing the 
road, was to act as guide. 

It was now November, the weather had become fine again 
with slight frost. The air was clear, cold, and bracing, and 
the journey was pleasant. The country was undulating and 
hilly, and but thinly settled. The roads were rough and narrow 
and passed through thin forests of oak, beech, and hickory, 
and, as usual in that country, led by many round-about ways, 
so that in the whole journey, about two miles would be traversed 
to make one in a straight line. The entire country seemed to 
be in possession of pigeons, which were to be seen in millions, 
feeding upon the beech-mast and acorns. 

We at length arrived at the place appointed for us to halt 
for the night. It was a fine large building, consisting 
of a centre and two vdngs, and I found that it was here 
the men were to rest for the night, while forage for the horses 
would be obtained at a farm close adjoining. 

The waggons were drawn up in front of the building, and 
the horses taken out, whilst a serious and consequential-looking 
gentleman, with something of the city cut about him, and 
seemingly of Irish extraction, came up and inquired for the 
officer in command of the detachment. I was pointed out to 
him. He came up, and making an attempt at a mihtary 
salute, commenced to make a sort of speech, addressing me as 



LIFE IX THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 255 

captain. I told him to be easy, I was only an orderly 
sergeant. He did not seem to appreciate the difference but 
went on with his speech. His mission was to deliver to me 
the key of the building, which was one of the State schools — 
a college he called it, and he was the head-master or 
" Principal." 

I assured him that I would see that no damage was done to 
the property. There was an outside house where the boys 
might do their cooking, and one of the class-rooms would do 
for our accommodation, and I requested he would remove from 
it, and lock away any movables, such as books or other school 
paraphernalia. But there were but few movables in it ; one 
or two books in a small bookcase in the corner, for which he 
professed great veneration, and taking down one of them — a 
copy of " Yirgil," he began to dilate upon its beauties. The 
boys who were now in a frolicsome humour were bringing in 
their baggage, and seeing the principal with the book, became 
noisy, crying out that they were going to school again, and 
began to babble over passages from Virgil. 

" Why, captain," said he, " you have got a regiment of 
scholars." 

I told him they were all men of learning and genius, but a 
most unruly and unmanageable lot, and suggested the use of 
his birch or tawse to keep them in order. 

After passing a few words in Latin with some of the boys 
he left, seemingly not desirous of going too far into learned 
questions with them. 

On taking a survey of the building I saw it had been got up 
at great expense, but it seemed to be very little used, although 
it would accommodate several hundred. I saw no appearance 
of any population in the neighbourhood to support such a 
school. 

The boys having made fires in the out-house, which was used 
as a kitchen, got their suppers cooked, and having set aside 
the forms and desks in the class-room, they lighted a fire, and 
each selecting a part of the floor for their bed, deposited their 
robes and blankets. A guard was posted round the house, 
horses, and waggons in conformity with military rules. 

Shortly after this the farmer came in to see how he was to 
get paid for the corn and forage which he had supplied for the 
waggon horses. I told him my orders were to sign a requisi- 
tion, and he would take it to the post quarter-master and he 



256 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

would get paid. I gave him a requisition " form," and told 
him to fill it up and T would sign it. He said he did not know 
anything about these tilings, neither could he read or write, 
and for all the value of the forage they had got it was not 
worth the trouble. He sat a while and talked. He was 
shrewd and intelligent about matters pertaining to the country 
or his own business. I asked him about this school, and what 
was the object of putting up such an expensive building where 
there was no population to support it. He said it was State 
money for school purposes ; they had plenty of it, and 
must spend it, and it gave pickings and offices to their friends. 
I thought that rather a strange explanation, although there 
might be some truth in it, but the building did very well for 
our purpose in the meantime, and we did not care how it was 
put there, and we stretched ourselves on the floor and were 
soon asleep. 

In the morning we had an early breakfast, the waggons 
were hitched up, and we proceeded. Everything was much 
the same as on the previous day, and iat night our halt and 
quarters were precisely the same as on the previous night, in 
another of the State schools, similar in every way to the last, 
and everything about the same, even to the farmer coming to 
get pay for his forage, who, like the last, could neither read 
nor write. I did not like this, as I feared that it might be 
thought that I had appropriated the forage without paying or 
offering to pay for it. It looked like robbing the farmers, and 
I was a little annoyed. 

" Confound it ! " cried I, " what kind of a country is this at 
all ? Every house I come to is a great, large school or educa- 
tional institute, while the devil a soul can I find who can either 
read or write. This won't do ; if the general gets to know of 
it, there will be a row at the quarter-master's department. I 
must get the requisition filled up in the regular way ; can you 
get nobody to do it ? Go and get your schoolmaster, surely 
he can read and write." 

" Well, I don't know as he can," said he, as the boys roared 
with laughter. "You see, stranger," continued he, "them 
there schools were built to make offices. The State has got 
plenty of school money, and they build them schools with it. 
The men gets the job who work hard for the party that gets 
elected." 

"Then do I understand," said I, "that the teachers get 



LIFE m THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 257 

their appointments through political influence, without regard 
to other qualifications ? " 

" Well, that's about it, stranger. They has a few questions 
they ask them about Latin and things, which they knows how 
to answer, but that is about all they know." 

"And how many children will there be attending this 
school ? " 

"Not more than a dozen when they are all there." 

" But," said I, " there must be more children than that in 
the neighbourhood, and by the laws you are compelled to 
educate your children." 

"That is true," said he, " but you cannot compel people to 
send their children five or six miles to school through them 
woods." 

" That accounts," said I, " for so many being unable to 
read and write, notwithstanding the large schools ; but Avould 
you not be better to have smaller schools, and more of them, 
so that the children would not have so far to go to school ? " 

" That, of course," said he, " would be better for the chil- 
dren, but it would not do for the parties in power and the 
teachers — they want big schools and fat ojQ6.ces." 

" Then," said I, " you have your children going five or six 
miles to school, so that the teachers may have fat offices." 

" Well, that is so, stranger, but people don't bother about 
it ; besides, most people don't care about sending their children 
to free schools, and if they can manage it at all they send them 
to private schools. I have three children at a private school 
at Bentonville, where they board with their uncle." 

" Rather than send them to tliis school," said I ; " that will 
cost you something." 

" Well, it does," said he ; " but I won't have my children at 
a free school so long as I can pay for their education." 

" Well," said I, changing the subject, " what about this 
requisition 1 Can't you get it filled up T' 

" Oh, never mind it," said he ; "it would not come to much 
altogether, and it is not worth the trouble ;" and he took his 
leave. 

This man, like most of the farmers in the district at that 
time, though without education was extremely shrewd and 
intelligent, and seemed to be pretty well-to-do in the world. 
But I was astonished at the way he spoke of the educational 
system. That was a subject I had never given much attention 

R 



258 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

to, and I thought it probable that in politics this farmer might 
be opposed to the party in power, and perhaps he might not 
be on very good terms with the teacher of the school ; certainly 
he was by no means indifferent to education when he was 
taking such care, and going to such expense, in the education 
of his own children. 

By daylight we were again on the march, and were now 
turned northward towards Missouri. We were going by a 
different route from any we had traversed before, and we saw 
no track of any of the armies and could learn nothing of what 
was going on. The people seemed now to be terrorstruck and 
very reticent ; and there were some reports of the enemy being 
near and fighting going on, and the sight of armed men seemed 
to alarm them. 

About the fourth day we heard cannonading at some dis- 
tance on our right, but our orders did not lead us in that 
direction ; but I thought it best to be on our guard against 
scouting parties of the enemy. 

The following day we came to a station where we were to 
report. This was a quarter-master's station. The officer in 
command stated that our division was about 30 miles in front, 
but he hesitated about allowing us to proceed further as he 
said he thought the army was falling back. I reported the 
cannonading we had heard on the previous day. He supposed 
that would be a detachment of Price's army engaged with the 
enemy in the neighbourhood of Springfield, and he immediately 
despatched a courier to the front, and ordered us to rest at 
the station for the night. In consequence of orders which 
came to the station during the night, all stores were packed up 
and waggons ordered to be ready to proceed to the rear. From 
my point of view I thought the station to be in rather a 
critical position, and not caring to undertake to fight the 
enemy's army with my 26 men or be taken prisoners, I pro- 
posed to go on at daybreak and join our regiment. He said I 
should not move until the return of the courier with instruc- 
tions. The courier returned shortly after daybreak with orders 
that all stores and waggons should at once proceed to the rear, 
the party of convalescents should act as an escort as far as a 
certain creek, and then report to their respective corps. This 
was not very pleasing to the boys, who wished to get back to 
join their old comrades. However, the same courier said that 
the army was returning by forced marches and would be up 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 259 

with US by to-morroAv evening; "that is," continued he, in a 
confidential tone to me, " if the enemy don't cut them off." 

I was pretty sure from the cannonading I heard on the 
pre^TLOus day that the enemy must now be south of us, and 
that there had been a mistake somewhere, and from the nature 
of the orders we had got we stood a very good chance, this 
day, of ha^dng the train attacked by some of the enemy's 
flying detachments ; and, as we had been bouncing about how 
we could send their cavalry to the right about, I told the 
boys that they would likely get a chance erelong, and they 
had got a name which they must maintain. 

We kept up a strict look-out all day, but the enemy did 
not make their appearance, and on the following day came to 
the creek mentioned. Here we came upon Price's army, and 
that of course covered the trains, and w^e returned to join our 
owTi brigade, which was not far behind. We found they had 
camped about six miles north of the creek, near Neosheo, 
after three days of forced marches. We met with a hearty 
welcome, and I took -my place in the company. 

We remained in this camp over a day, and I got to know 
the position of matters. 

The plan of the campaign we understood to have been that 
Price should take up a strong position in the neighbourhood 
of Springfield, where he would act on the defensive, and hold 
the enemy in check wiiile M'Culloch would advance northward 
and operate upon Ms right flank and rear and cut ofi" his supphes. 

M'CuUoch's army had advanced northward as far as Fort 
Scott, when he learned that Price had been unable to hold his 
position at Springfield, and had fallen back towards Neosheo, 
and his (M'CuUoch's) army was in danger of being cut ofi". 

M'Culloch, however, was equal to the occasion. He, with 
his mounted troops under M'Intosh, hovered on the enemy's 
right flank and threatened their rear, and thus covered the 
retreat of the infantry until they formed a junction with 
Price's troops. 

We were ordered to march southward to a more advan- 
tageous position. 

As was usual and to be expected in those sudden movements 
and counter-movements, it was very difficult to keep the troops 
supplied with provisions, and for several days there had been 
nothing obtained from the general commissary department. 
The country abounded with cattle and pigs, which were 



260 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

slaughtered and cooked by the men, so that there was plenty 
of fresh meat, but there was nothing to eat with it, there 
being no flour or meal to make any kind of bread, and it was 
not the season to get green corn. To supply this deficiency 
the men had recourse to dry Indian corn and wild pease, with 
which the country abounded. These they boiled when they 
could get an opportunity and ate with the fresh beef and 
pork, but they found these rather poor substitutes for bread. 

About the third day after I had rejoined the company I was 
at the adjutant's quarters handing in some reports in the 
morning before proceeding on the march. I there saw our 
captain, the lieutenant-colonel, and the major sitting in con- 
versation with the colonel. I had left my reports, and was 
returning when I was accosted by our friend Joe, who was 
with the company undergoing the punishment inflicted on him 
by the court-martial. The only punishment he was sufiering 
was that he was going along with the company enjojdng him- 
:|j I self in comparison with the rest of the men, not having to 

J carry a rifle or accoutrements, and having no duty to do. 

[I " Sergeant," said he in his usual whining tone, " I am glad 

you have come back. The captain and the acting orderly 
sergeant have been neglecting their duty and have been using 
me very ill." 

" "What have they been neglecting or doing 1 " said I. 

" They have been neglecting to carry out the sentence of 
the court-martial. You know I was to get bread and water, 
and I have never got a bit of bread, and for more than a week 
I have never even got a bit of flour to make bread." 

The afiected manner in which he complained about the 
sentence not being carried out took me down altogether. I 
did not know whether to swear or laugh, but a thought struck 
me. " Come with me," said I, " we will see about this." I 
took him to the adjutant's quarters, where the officers were 
still sitting. 

" Captain," said I, " here is a man who is upon that report 
as under arrest. He is undergoing sentence pronounced by a 
court-martial, and he has complained to me that you and 
Sergeant T. have been neglecting your duty, in not carrying 
out the sentence of the court-martial. Of course I have just 
returned to duty, and know nothing about it." 

" What is the sentence ?" said the colonel, in a serious and 
stern tone. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDEEATE ARMY. 261 

" I have it here in my book," said I, and turning it up read 

— " That he be sent back to his company and kept at fatigue 

duty and fed upon bread and water for a period of sixty days." 

" And he complains of it not being carried out," said the 

colonel. 

" Yes," said I. 

" How was it possible that such a sentence could be carried 
out in the company," said the captain. " Bread, as under- 
stood in the regulations, we have not seen since we left New 
Orleans, and we have been on the march ever since the 
sentence was passed, and we could not put him on fatigue 
duty." 

" You might have put a heavy knapsack on his back," said 
the heutenant-colonel. 

" Then he would have dropped out and been left behind," 
said the captain, " and that would just have suited him. 
It is not easy giving fatigue duty for punishment while on the 
march." 

" That I allow," said the colonel, " unless they are put in 
the rear with the trains, and then they are of no use, as there 
is no officer over them, and it is doubtful whether it be any 
punishment at all." 

" I would not have minded that so much if they had carried 
out the other part of the sentence, and given me the bread 
and water," said Joe in a most affected and pitiable tone. 

The colonel looked at him as if he would have cleaved him 
with his sword, but he restrained himself. 

" Oh, I see, Joe," said the lieutenant-colonel, " if we manage 
to give you the bread, you are quite willing to let us off for 
the fatigue duty." 

" Oh, yes ; these long marches are fatigue enough," said Joe 
in a tone of concession. 

The colonel again looked daggers at Joe, and bit his lip. 

" How long has the sentence yet to run ?" said the colonel. 

" About three weeks yet," said I, looking at the date. 

" I am sure I wish it was done," said the captain. 

" Oh, there is no hurry about that, sir," said Joe, in a tone 
of the greatest simplicity. 

" Hold your tongue, you impudent scoundrel," roared the 
colonel, " I will soon give you plenty of fatigue duty and 
bread and water too." 

" Thank you, sir," said Joe, in a grateful tone and withdrew. 



262 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

"Well, that is a cool scoundrel," said the colonel. 

The other officers laughed and commented upon the absurdity 
of the sentence. The colonel allowed the sentence was absurd, 
but said nothing more. 

The bugle now sounded to form line, and I went to fall in 
the company. 

About three days after this we arrived at the position we 
were to take up, and Joe was sent off with a large detail of 
men to block up certain roads by felHng large trees so as to 
fall across them, and roll down large stones upon them and 
place other obstructions, so as to impede, the advance of the 
enemy in that direction. I question much if the officer in 
command got much work out of Joe. It was no doubt 
unquestionable that for ordinary offences work was always the 
best and most effectual system of punishment when it could be 
properly enforced, but that could only be done at a fixed camp 
or station where useful labour was required and some proper 
authority existed to have it enforced, but for such a sentence 
to be carried out within the company while engaged in an 
active campaign in front of the enemy was simply ridiculous. 

The position now taken up was a very advantageous one. 
It was upon a stony ridge where the main road leading to the 
south from Missouri branched ofi" — one road leading to the 
south and the other branching off to the eastward, the ridge 
forming the gusset between the two roads. 

We here waited the approach of the enemy, M'Culloch 
evidently intending to rest on the defensive near his base of 
operations and near his supplies, with his rear secure, while 
the enemy would be drawn further from their supplies and 
their base of operations. In this position we could get supplies 
easily ; the camp was dry and healthy and favourable for drill 
and manoeuvring. 

Our company had been augmented by some new members 
who had come from Baton Rouge to join the service. The 
other companies in the regiment had also been reinforced by 
new volunteers, and many of the wounded had now recovered 
and were back to duty, and the strength of the regiment was 
considerably brought up, and company and battalion drill was 
actively persevered in. 

The enemy advanced to within 12 miles, but did not 
seem inclined to attack us in this position, while M'Culloch, 
with M'Intosh and his mounted troops, kept hovering on their 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 263 

flanks, cutting off detached parties. Almost every day parties 
of prisoners and horses and waggons were being brought in. ' 

One day a fine capture of about 14 waggons, each drawn by 
six fine mules, the waggons being loaded with lead, were 
brought in by M'CuUoch. 

It seemed that after the battle of Oakhill and while the 
army was passing through by Sarcoxie in September M'Culloch 
had contracted with the owners of some of the lead mines 
there to prepare and supply him with a quantity of lead. This 
lead had been smelted and cast into pigs and stacked up ready 
to deliver to the quarter-master when he should send for it. 

When the Federal General Halleck occupied Springfield in 
November, he got information that such lead, the property of 
the Confederates, stood there ready for delivery. Thinking 
tliis a splendid prize, he despatched 1 4 of his best waggons and 
strongest mules, accompanied by an escort, to bring away the 
lead. Whether M'Culloch had been privy to the information 
given to General Halleck or not I do not know, but Halleck's 
waggons had been loaded up with the lead and were proceeding 
towards Springfield when they were surprised by M'CuUoch's 
mounted infantry, the escort made prisoners, and the whole 
train of waggons turned southward and brought safely into 
the Confederate camp. Thus M'Culloch not only recovered 
the lead, but 14 waggons and over 80 fine mules, which was a 
considerable acquisition to his transport department. Up to 
this time we had lost no prisoners to the enemy, therefore the 
arms were taken from the prisoners, and they were paroled and 
let go. 

The weather was now dry, cool, and pleasant ; drill being 
steadily continued, the troops were in splendid condition. 
Hardened by the campaign, and having acquired a soldierly 
bearing and habit and some military pride, the constant drill 
had brought them up to a high state of efficiency, and the 
steadiness and regularity of their evolutions in company or 
battalion drill would have done honour to any European 
troops, while their fighting calibre was already proved. 

I could have wished that some of the military critics of 
Europe could have seen them at this time, if just to show them 
something of volunteers and what an efficient army can be 
produced from raw material in a few months, and that a nation 
has nothing to fear for its defence that can raise an army of 
volunteers and knows how to treat them and l^rino- them into 



I 



264 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

the field without having their enthusiasm damped or their 
progress obstructed by fastidious deference to rank, official 
formalities, and red-tape restrictions. 

While here we had an acquisition to our regiment in the 
form of an old veteran officer of the French army, who had to 
leave France owing to some political troubles. He had gone 
to California, where he had resided some time, but on hearing 
of the war betwixt the North and South, his military spirit 
was kindled and he longed to join in the fray. His sympathies 
were with the South, but to get to join the Southern Army 
was no easy matter. 

To get round to the Eastern States by the ordinary route 
was expensive, and even if that was accomplished, the South 
was blockaded round, and he would not be able to get across 
the lines. He therefore undertook to cross the country on 
foot, passing through New Mexico and the Indian Territory, 
his only companion being a faithful donkey which carried his 
baggage, consisting of a tent to shelter him at night and a 
small commissariat ; for this animal he had a great affection 
and regard which were reciprocated. Having learnt that in 
the Army of the West there was a Louisiana regiment, he 
concluded that there would be some in it of French extraction 
Avho would speak the French language. He found his conjec- 
tures to be correct, there being one company the members of 
which were almost exclusively of French extraction. This 
company bore the name of the "Iberville Greys," and, like our 
own company, contained a number of very young lads. 

Monsieur Challon was every inch a soldier. He had known 
no other profession, and had been the greater part of his life in 
the French army. He was quite astonished at the efficiency 
of the troops, at the precision and regularity of their evolutions, 
and considered them to be equal to any European forces, and 
lie could hardly believe that they had only been seven months 
in service. 

Monsieur Challon became an attache of the "Iberville 
Greys " company, and took his place in the ranks. The rules 
and customs of the service not being so rigid as to prevent 
his fellow-soldiers making a little allowance for his years, he 
soon became a general favourite. But no less a favourite was 
his companion "Jason," the donkey, which also became an 
attache of the company, and a general favourite with the 
whole resfiment. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 265 

As it was known that many regiments in the British army- 
had a general pet of some kind in the shape of a beast or bird, 
the 3rd Louisiana Regiment thought to emulate them by 
having a pet in the shape of this donkey. 

An incident happened, however, which almost got poor 
Neddy into trouble. 

Our lieutenant-colonel, who was well advanced in years, was 
a venerable looking old gentleman. He was of a homely, 
affable disposition, had a pleasant humour, and liked at times 
to have a little joke with the boys, and was very popular. It 
so happened that our new recruit, or attache. Monsieur Challon, 
bore a most striking personal resemblance to Lieutenant- 
Colonel H., so much so that the one was often mistaken for 
the other ; and as in the time of actual hard work within the 
regimental camp there was little or no difference in dress, 
mistakes, or pretended mistakes, would sometimes occur, and 
often when Monsieur Challon would happen to pass a sentinel 
the latter would salute, believing or pretending to believe that 
it was Lieutenant-Colonel H. Of course a good deal of this 
was done in joke. 

His companion " Jason," though possessing a considerable 
sense of duty, and withal a very intelligent beast, yet was 
still an ass ; and when the more intelligent lords of creation 
mistook the identity of the two individuals the same mistake 
might be excusable in the poor cuddy. 

It seemed that during the long journey across the plains, 
Jason had at certain times been allowed to share the tent with 
his master, and to this he had become somewhat accustomed, 
and regarded it as a matter of right. It was therefore not to 
be wondered at, when he saw the lieutenant-colonel entering 
or sitting in his tent, that he would by mistake go in and seek 
to make himself quite at home. 

Whether the lieutenant-colonel's ideas of equality and 
fraternity would have tolerated this I do not know, but it was 
certain that his rank prohibited it, and he immediately 
despatched a messenger to the Iberville Greys, informing them 
that a member of their company, in violation of the rules of 
the service, in respect to " honour paid to rank," had been 
intruding into his tent, and that if such a breach of rules was 
repeated he would impose a penalty on their company, by 
ordering them to detail a guard for special service at his tent, 
night and day, to ward off intruders. Of course the class- 



i 



266 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

ing of Jason as a member was intended as a little joke at the 
expense of the company. 

A few days afterwards the lieutenant-colonel and the major 
were called off for duty on some court-martial business. They 
were about to set off, and the major had ridden up to the 
lieutenant-colonel's tent, where the latter's horse was standing 
held by an orderly. The lieutenant-colonel came out, but just 
as he was mounting, Jason came up and looked at him with a 
marked expression of affection in his countenance. 

" There is your friend, colonel," said the major. 

" Confound the brute ! " cried the lieutenant-colonel, " he 
will be into my tent again. Here," cried he, addressing the 
orderly, " go down to the Iberville Greys and give them my 
compliments, and say that I order them to detail a member of 
their company to stand guard over my tent till further orders." 
So saying he and the major rode off. 

I have often heard it hinted that among mankind feelings of 
brotherly love and affection were often attracted towards a 
source from whence some substantial benefit was likely to flow, 
or from whence some advantage was to be obtained. Whether 
this sentiment extends to donkeys or not I do not know, and 
I would not like to impute to Jason any unworthy motives, 
nevertheless, there was just the slightest grounds for suspicions 
of his sincerity. 

It so happened that the lieutenant-colonel, not wishing to 
trust too much to the honour of the forage purveyors, kept 
the corn for his horse under his own care in a bag in the 
corner of his tent. Whether this may have in any way 
influenced the affection of Jason for the lieutenant-colonel I 
will not pretend to say, but towards the evening the lieutenant- 
colonel and the major returned. Having dismounted and 
handed their horses to the orderly, they both proceeded to the 
lieutenant-colonel's tent. On entering, their surprise may be 
imagined when they found Jason with his nose in the bag 
quietly munching away at the corn. On their approach he 
looked up, cocked his ears, and regarded them steadily for a 
moment, then munched away. The lieutenant-colonel's anger 
was now thoroughly roused. When he had given the order 
in the morning he had given it half in anger and half in joke, 
scarcely meaning that it would be carried out. 

The major reminded him of the order he had given to the 
Iberville Greys to detail a member of their company to guard 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 267 

liis tent, and of his former caution to the company in which 
he recognised Jason as a member, and probably they had con- 
sidered that they had fulfilled the order by detailing Jason, 
and he laughed heartily. The lieutenant-colonel, thinking the 
laugh was turned against him, was for a moment nonplussed ; 
but, to make the best of it, he called the orderly and told him 
to go to the Iberville Greys with his order to send a file of 
men to take one of their members to the guard-house for 
neglect of duty while on guard in not presenting arms to field- 
ofiicers. The major, however, in behalf of Jason, palliated the 
offence by maintaining that Jason, by raising his head and 
cocking his ears, had made the best substitute for a " present 
arms " that it was possible for a donkey to do. 

The thing passed off" as a joke, but Jason had to find security 
for his good behaviour in future. 

Whether General Halleck's army was not of the strength it 
was supposed to be, or whether he had over-estimated our 
strength, I do not know, but they did not deem it prudent to 
attack us in our position; while M'CuUoch, knowing the 
country and every road and pass, with his mounted rangers 
kept hovering round them, cutting off" small detachments, 
capturing their supply trains, and even threatening their rear ; 
and the winter now setting in, they were compelled to retreat, 
M'CuUoch following them up and harassing their rear as far 
as Lebanon, the whole Federal army falling back upon St. Louis. 

It was not now probable that the enemy would make any 
further advance before spring, and the campaign of 1861 
might be considered at an end, and the troops were ordered 
into winter quarters. 

Winter quarters had been prepared at places suitable for 
obtaining forage and supplies easily, having regard to other 
advantages which might be of importance for health, position, 
or convenience of having them called speedily together in case 
of emergency. 

Price's army was stationed in the neighbourhood of Spring- 
field and other stations in the south of Missouri according to 
the means of obtaining supplies. M'Culloch's army was 
similarly placed in the north-west part of Arkansas. Our 
regiment was stationed at a place called " Cross Hollows," 
about 18 miles from Fayette ville, a range of wooden houses 
having been put up for their accommodation. Our company 
and the Iberville Greys were specially stationed at the town 



268 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

of Fayetteville as a guard for that place, it being now a depot 
of supplies. 

Our quarters here was a large school or educational institute, 
which made one imagine that such buildings were favourite 
places for quartering troops. 

The facts regarding these buildings I found to be pretty 
much as described to me by the old farmer. The sale of public 
lands held by the State for educational purposes produced a 
large revenue. Hence the money was expended for educa- 
tional purposes, though perhaps not in the most honourable or 
judicious manner. Large schools were built without regard to 
the requirements or desires of the population, who seldom sent 
their children to the public schools ; and it might be as the 
old farmer said, that teachers were appointed ^\dth large salaries 
and nothing to do as a reward for electioneering and getting 
the party into power, while the war-cry of education was 
sufficient to stifle any attempt at remonstrance, and no one 
might dare to utter a word of criticism on anything pertaining 
to the system or the means of carrying it out, be it ever so 
pregnant with jobbery and corruption. 'Tis true this was in 
an outlying district and in a country but thinly settled. 

Fayetteville was a town with a population of about 4,000, 
pleasantly situated on a high and dry position, surrounded by 
hills from which issued many springs of fine water. This 
place being now an army depot, there were several of our 
commissary and quartermasters' stores here, and factories 
established for the manufacture of army waggons, gun car- 
riages, ordnance stores, ammunition, etc. For these places we 
had to furnish a proper guard, and our only duties here were 
guard mounting and the usual company drill. 

Here we passed about two months as if in garrison without 
any stirring events. There were occasional rumours of an 
armistice and talk of peace proposals, but all, I beheve, with- 
out any foundation. Here we heard of the demand of Great 
Britain in the Trent afiair, which for a time greatly exhilar- 
ated the South, although it ended pretty much as was 
expected. 

In January we had some severe frost and snow, which was 
a source of great excitement to the boys, most of whom had 
never seen snow before, and only very slight frosts. TheyJ 
were soon sliding or attempting to skate on every pond or dul 
of water, and snowballing was indulged in to a great extent, 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 269 

generally between the two companies, when the battle of 
Oakhill was fought over again. 

During these two months, being the dead of winter, there 
was little or no fighting in any part. 

In the Army of the West there was but little change. 
There was some talk of a correspondence between General 
Price and the Confederate Government, and that he was 
dissatisfied at not having been made a major-general; but 
what had been done we did not learn. 

Colonel M'Intosh was made a brigadier-general, which he 
deserved, and this promotion gave great satisfaction. No 
promotion had been awarded to M'Culloch, and it was 
generally allowed that he was too modest or too independent 
to ask it. 

One General Pike, of Arkansas, had undertaken, and had 
been commissioned, to raise a brigade in Arkansas and the 
Indian Territory. 

The time in winter quarters passed somewhat idly, and as 
Satan generally finds some mischief for idle hands to do, he 
made no exception in this case. 

The boys did get into mischief, although it was not of a 
very serious character. It was chiefly confined to throwing 
stones at pigs or poultry, chasing cats, and similar depreda- 
tions, for which they were occasionally punished. But their 
principal acts of mischief were directed against a woman who 
lived in a rather dilapidated house near to quarters. 

This woman, who was supposed to be a sort of grass widow, 
did not possess youth or beauty to an extraordinary extent. 
She was past the bloom of maidenhood, and was remarkable 
for a freckled face, fiery countenance, and red hair j but what 
she lacked in grace and beauty she made up in loquacity, and 
between her and the younger members of the two companies 
there was a perpetual feud. They seemed to take delight in 
hearing her scolding, and she seemed to take as great delight 
in being at war with them. This woman came almost daily 
to the officers with complaints against some of the boys for 
some damage done to her fences, poultry, cat, or something, and 
she would insist upon a severe punishment being inflicted. At 
last she despaired of getting any satisfaction from the company 
officers, and declared her intention of complaining to the 
general himself. 

Accordingly one day, as General M'Culloch was riding past 



270 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

on his way into the town, we saw the vixen had got hold of 
his bridle, and by her violent gestures we could see that she 
was lodging a serious complaint against the men in quarters. 
The general, no doubt promising to see to it, at last got away 
from her. 

In the course of the day orders were given for a dress 
parade, and therefore we expected there would be some order 
read out in regard to the subject. 

When the parade was formed and the usual evolutions gone 
through. General M'Culloch rode up and said that he wished 
to say a few words to the men. 

We knew what was coming, but we had never heard the 
general try his hand at making a speech, and it was soon 
evident that speaking was not his forte. 

He began his address something in the usual stereotyped 
fashion of — ^" Third Louisiana, I have — you have — I have 
always found you ready. You have always been first in any 
daring act ; you have never failed me when I have called upon 
you. I have now once more to call upon you, and I trust you 
will be as ready to obey, as what I now wish you to do is — 
is — well — is," and he pointed in the direction of the woman's 
house, " is just to let that red-headed one alone," and so saying 
he galloped ofi*. 

The boys laughed and cheered. The general could have 
said nothing to have pleased them better, and therefore out of 
respect for the general they all agreed to let the red-headed 
one alone. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

AEEANGEMENTS FOR A NEW CAMPAIGN — THE PROGRAMME CHANGED — SUDDEN 
CALL TO ARMS — UNEXPECTED ADVANCE OF THE ENEMY — HEAVY MARCHING 
AND SKIRMISHING — THE SITUATION DISCUSSED — SUDDEN REVERSE — 
MISMANAGEMENT SOMEWHERE — POLITICAL PATRIOTS NOT ALWAYS TO BE 
TRUSTED — RETREAT BACK TO BOSTON MOUNTAIN — M'CULLOCH PURSUES 
HIS OLD TACTICS — A NEW MAJOR-GENERAL APPOINTED OVER ALL — ALL 
RETROGRADE MOVEMENTS TO BE STOPPED— ANOTHER ADVANCE. 

Early in February rumours were prevalent that we Avere soon 
to take the field again, but this time our campaign was to be 
in a different direction. We were to proceed to north-eastern 
Arkansas, near the Mississippi, and somewhere in the vicinity 
of " New Madrid" to operate with the Army of the Centre in 
checking the advance of the enemy on the Lower Mississippi 
who was now marching on New Madrid and threatening Island 
No. 10, and that in a few days we were to march, our first 
destination being Pocahontas. This report turned out to be 
correct, although we were doomed never to carry out the pro- 
gramme. The order seemed to have come suddenly and unex- 
pectedly. 

The distance to Pocahontas was by the nearest route over 
200 miles. The roads were very bad, and in some places 
almost impassable. There were many rivers to cross, which 
in winter were unfordable, and if a spring rise took place on 
the Mississippi much of the country would be overflowed, and 
it would be difficult for an army to act. 

M'Culloch immediately set about arranging for his transport 
and survey of the route, and some advanced parties by the 
way of pioneers had already been sent forward. 

We were not certain whether Price's army was to accompany 
us, or whether he had got his coveted major-generalship and 
the command of the Army of the West, which was probably 
the intended arrangement. 

It was getting near the middle of February, and we expected 
to receive orders in a few days to march for Pocahontas, when 
upon a quiet Sabbath afternoon, while some of the men were 
at church a courier galloped up in breathless haste with orders 



272 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

for the two companies immediately to join the regiment, that 
Price's army was already across the Missouri line into Arkansas, 
retreating before the enemy, who had come down upon him 
suddenly and unexpectedly with an overwhelming force and 
taken him quite by surprise. 

The detachment being ^vithout a fife and drum, the bell of 
the institution had been used at reveille and tattoo and to call 
the men together. It was now rung ^dolently, and the alarm 
soon spread over the town and neighbourhood. The men of 
the two companies were speedily got together and equipped 
with ammunition, and %vitliin an hour were on the march. 

When we had proceeded about 15 miles we began to meet 
the first of Price's baggage-waggons on their retreat south- 
wards. We tried to get some information from the waggon- 
drivers about this fearful scare, but we could get no other 
information than that the enemy were 40,000 strong, and 
more still coming. As we advanced we met the retreating 
waggons in still greater numbers, and all giving evidence of 
the sudden appearance and great force of the enemy. 

General Price, whose masterpiece in military tactics was 
retreating, had effected his retreat in good order, and it was 
generally allowed that there were few generals in the service 
Avho could better conduct a retrograde movement and fall back 
in better order, covering his baggage trains, poor as they 
seemed to be — and, indeed, much of it did not appear to be 
worth the trouble — lean oxen, scarcely able to crawl, old 
waggons, fit only for firewood, haK-loaded with stuff* of little 
value. i^Tevertheless, Price seemed desirous of saving every- 
thing, and it was sometimes said by our men that he was 
proud of his abilities in conducting a retreat, and lost no 
opportunity of displaying it, and was rather fond of the 
movement. We were somewhat astonished at this sudden 
and unexpected surprise. 

We marched all night without halting, and at daybreak 
came up with our regiment, which was already several miles 
on the way. We then had a rest for about an hour, and we 
ate a little bread which we had in our haversacks, and then 
marched on. The roads were crowded with Price's waggons, 
and also with numbers of waggons of the country people 
fleeing southward. As the day advanced and we proceeded 
we found the country to be in a great state of alarm. 

People from all quarters, with waggons filled with women 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 273 

and children and their effects, were fleeing from the district 
and hurrying southwards. About nine o'clock we met the 
advance of Price's army, and then the usual bantering questions 
began to be asked and answered — 

" What is all this scare about ? " 

" Go on and you will see." 

" What are you retreating for ? " 

" We have been fighting for the last three days ; you can 
now go and take a hand." 

The only information we could get was that the enemy had 
an overwhelming force and was driving everything before them. 

About 11 o'clock we heard the cannonading and shortly 
afterwards the rattle of small arms. We now drew off into 
some fields and prepared for action, while the shells from the 
enemy were flying thick and bursting over our heads. An 
aide-de-camp now came galloping up with orders for the 3rd 
Louisiana Regiment to proceed quickly to the front, adding 
at the same time that the enemy had captured one of our 
batteries. We advanced at a double quick, and were soon 
engaged with a body of the enemy's troops, which, however, 
quickly fell back, and we again deployed a little in advance. 
The fire of the artillery and the rattle of small arms all around 
Avere very heavy, but of the position or order of battle Ave could 
form no idea. We knew that it was an attack by the enemy 
on the rear of Price's army, but it Avas difficult to tell Avliich 
was friend and Avhich was foe. 

A large body of caA^alry was forming on a ridge at some 
distance, which, though we could see no flag, were too well 
appointed to be Price's troops, and Ave soon saAv that they Avere 
a body of the enemy. Their object, however, did not seem to 
be to attack us, as they rode past at a safe distance and pro- 
ceeded toAvards our left in the direction in Avhich we supposed 
our battery had been captured. They seemed to be commanded 
by a dashing officer, Avho wore a red feather in his cap, Avhich 
made him rather conspicuous. We soon afterAvards saAv them 
coming swooping down upon our left, not in squadrons but in 
single column, as if they were going to pass along our front in a 
parallel line. The defiant audacity of this seemed too incredible 
for us to suppose they would attempt it, and we looked on 
expecting to see them make some other moA-ement. But they 
did not swerve; they went Avhizzing past, discharging their 
carabines as they passed, but at such a distance as to do no 

s 



274 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

harm, getting the fire from the musketry of our regiment 
without much damage. 

" Out in advance, you rifles, and give it to them ! " was now 
■called out. 

Our company now dashed out in front for about 50 or 
60 yards and delivered a telling fire into them, which sent 
them off quickly, with a good many saddles empty. 

Their object probably was to keep us standing there and 
prevent us getting forward to retake the battery until it could 
be got away. 

Just then we heard a loud cheering in front on our left, 
which we knew to be from our side. The cause of this we 
found to be that some of the guns which had been captured 
had been recovered, as well as one or two of the enemy's guns, 
which had got entangled among the trees. 

It was now for several hours a constant running backwards 
and forwards, forming line first in one place and then in 
another, with what object I did not know, and a heavy fire of 
artillery and small arms, though what losses were sustained on 
either side I never learned. The advance of the enemy was 
checked for the time being, and Price's rear was no longer 
harassed. 

About four o'clock all was quiet again, and we sat down to 
rest and to await orders. 

The day had now become bitterly cold and the wounded 
were being brought in, and the cold causing the blood to flow 
freely, everything was daubed over, causing the surroundings 
to look as if there had been a terrible battle instead of a trifling- 
affair which never took a name. 

What was next to be done was now the question asked, and 
we were impatient to know, as we were tired, hungry, and 
shivering with the cold. 

General Price rode past dressed in the full uniform of a 
general, with a cocked hat and feathers. It was said, perhaps 
with some sneering, that he rode along in that dress to show 
that he had been made a Confederate general, in the expecta- 
tion that the Confederate troops would greet him with a cheer 
as a token of their approval of the appointment. But I do 
not think he had any such idea. The troops could be in no 
disposition to cheer, as anyone of common-sense among them 
■could not fail to see that there had been an egregious blunder 
made and gross mismanagement somewhere. 



LIFE IX THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 275 

We were now ordered to march back to Cross Hollows and 
take up position there. 

The distance back to Cross Hollows was about 14 miles, and 
the road was blocked up by Price's army, which was retreating 
in front of us, and the march was tedious. 

The head of our company being on the right of the regiment 
was the usual place for military gossip, and generally the 
adjutant, with the latest news, and one or two of the officers 
would get up there and discuss the situation. 

The present state of matters was now commented upon. 
The first question was, Where was General M'Culloch? Neither 
he nor M'Intosh had been seen, and certainly had not been 
with us. They were both away in the entirely opposite 
direction, surveying the route and arranging for the march to 
Pocahontas, where we had been ordered to proceed, and part 
of M'Intosh's brigade had already gone in that direction. 
Then why was this sudden advance of the enemy by the way 
of Springfield never suspected ? Why had this large force 
come all the way from St. Louis and been concentrating in 
Southern Missouri unknown to Price, who supposed himself 
kept constantly informed by his faithful adherents of all that 
was going on in Missouri? When Price was surprised in 
Springfield, how was it that the intelligence reached M'CuUoch's 
army at a distance of 50 miles, only about 10 miles in advance 
of his sluggish ox waggons? These were questions not so 
easily answered. We had heard that the Federal General, 
Halleck, was removed from St. Louis and was going to operate 
against New Madrid, and Island No. 10, where we were going 
to oppose him. 

The last intelligence we had had through Price's army was 
that he (Price) had full information of the whole of Southern 
Missouri; that his scouts had been as far north as Lebanon, 
and that there the roads were impassable, and any immediate 
advance of the enemy in that direction was almost impossible. 

The generally expressed opinion now was that Price had 
relied upon the loyalty of the country people to his cause, and 
believed their information, and that he had been misled ; and 
as his credulity and faith in such information had already 
caused much disagreement between him and General M'Culloch, 
it was now supposed that the breach between them would be 
greater than ever, and, probably. Price seeing what had 
happened, and perhaps not believing that the enemy was in 



276 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

such strong force, had tried first to repulse them with his own 
army, and have all the glory to himself without calling upon 
M'CuUoch for aid. 

Or, it might be that by orders from the War Department, 
Price with his army had been left to defend the western 
frontier, while M'Culloch with his forces was drawn off to join 
the army of the centre, therefore. Price had first tried to 
repulse the enemy ^vithout calling upon M'Culloch for help. 

In any case, many thought that the people of Missouri were 
not so much devoted to the Southern cause as Price had led 
himself to believe. 

Whether any of these conjectures were correct or not I do 
not know, but such were the feelings and opinions expressed 
and discussed among the men and officers of our regiment on 
the dreary march back to Cross Hollows that night. One 
thing was certain, a sad disaster had happened, and the strong 
positions to the north of us had been lost. Had we been able 
to get the position we had held in November, before going into 
winter quarters, we might have held it against a superior 
force and checked the advance of the enemy, but that was now 
in possession of the Federals. 

It was but a small part of our army that was here ^dth us. 
Several regiments had been stationed at different places, and 
might take a day or two to get forward. M'Intosh's brigade 
was supposed to be on the way to Pocahontas, and probably 
50 miles distant, and the enemy with an overwhelming force 
right upon us. It was near midnight when we got to Cross 
Hollows, and a good many of our company had dropped 
behind, but came up within an hour or two afterwards. The two 
companies that had come from Fayetteville were pretty well 
worn out with hunger and fatigue. The distance from 
Fayetteville to where we covered Price's retreat was fully 35 
miles, so that since hurriedly leaving Fayetteville on Sunday 
afternoon, we had marched 35 miles and manoeuvred often at 
double quick for about five hours, and then marched back 14 
miles without food and without rest, except sitting down on 
the ground for a few minutes. 

We soon got into one of the winter quarter houses, and had 
some rations cooked and eaten, and hoping that the enemy 
would allow us till the morning to rest, we were soon asleep. 

On the first dawn of day we were aroused by the reveille. 
The boys, sorely fatigued, thought they had not slept five 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 277 

minutes, and the morning was bitter cold. They rose shivering 
with cold, and while enduring this cold sensation seemed to 
have a kind regard for General Price, for they wished him, 
cocked hat, feathers, and all, in the very hottest place which 
they could think of. 

The roll was called and rations procured, and about seven 
o'clock the men had got their rations cooked and in their 
haversacks. The regiment was then formed in line ready 
to take position and await the advance of the enemy. 

We had just formed line when a tremendous cheering was 
raised all along the front. We soon discovered this was 
caused by the arrival of General M'Culloch ; he had come from 
a distance of over 70 miles. He now rode along the line 
while the cheering was startling his horse. He already knew 
the nature of the position at Cross Hollows, and the whole of 
the troops were placed in order of battle with the artillery 
commanding the passes. 

Cross Hollows was a good position if the enemy attacked by 
that line of road, and though we knew our force to be small 
compared to that of the enemy, yet our position was so good, 
that had they attacked us here we hoped to have made short 
work of them, — and we certainly hoped they would attack us 
and get us out of this difficulty. 

How M'Culloch and Price met, or how Price explained to 
M'Culloch the state of matters, I do not know, but as soon as 
M'Culloch had placed his troops in position, he set off with a 
small party to reconnoitre the enemy's strength and movements. 
It was soon ascertained, to our great disappointment, that the 
enemy had not advanced from where we had left him on the 
previous day. 

It had now come on a severe storm of snow and sleet, and 
we were allowed to come down from the elevated position we 
had taken up and stand in the shelter of the valley, but by no 
means to leave the ranks. While we stood in this position, a 
gentleman came along and had some talk with us. He had 
come to meet General M'Culloch and give him some infor- 
mation regarding the enemy. 

He told us that the enemy's forces were in two divisions 
under two generals — General Curtis and General Siegel ; 
that the force we had met on the previous day was that of 
Curtis, which was about 13,000 strong; that of Siegel, he 
thought, was about the same strength, but was not with 



Z/0 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Curtis, and was advancing by some other route, though the 
two armies were acting in close conjunction ^\dth each other. 
He added further, that we might wait a long time before 
either or both would attack us in this position, but they would 
flank us by advancing by other routes. What this man told 
us we found out afterwards to be substantially correct. 

It had now become bitterly cold, and the sleet froze as it fell, 
and our clothes were frozen stiff, and the ground was covered 
with ice. 

About four o'clock in the afternoon orders came for us to 
move, and we were glad to go anywhere, as we would have 
been frozen to the ground, but the news was not reassuring 
when we found that our march was to be backwards towards 
the Arkansas river. 

Our march was much impeded by Price's army and cumber- 
some trains which were in front, and the snow Avas now falling 
so thick that we could not see 10 yards in front. After a 
tedious and toilsome march we reached Fayetteville about 
midnight, where we were to halt till daylight. Our company 
soon found its way into the old quarters and rested there. 
The rest of the regiment found quarters in what had once been 
a church, but was now turned into a gun and ammunition 
factory. 

It was later next morning before the reveille was sounded — 
a little longer time was allowed the troops to rest. When the 
regiment was formed we were marched out and halted on a 
rising ground near the town. The ground was thickly covered 
with snow and the whole country round seemed to be in a 
general conflagration. The large wooden storehouses which 
had been filled with army supplies were in flames. On this 
rising ground where we stood, was piled up large heaps of 
flour and bacon, and every waggon that could be procured was 
being loaded up with stores to be carried away south to Fort 
Smith, while the remainder was heaped up on piles of wood 
like the sacrifices of old, and set on fire — the troops cutting 
ofi" from the best pieces slices of bacon which they roasted on 
the point of sticks (the use of sabres or bayonets for this 
purpose being forbidden), while the heat dried their wet and 
frozen clothes. It is astonishing what a little thing enlivens 
men amidst privations. This was an amusement ; the ever- 
lasting fun was going on, they roasted slices of the new bacon 
which was really excellent ; and for bread, they cut up the 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 279 

bags of flour which were lying about in hundreds, poured some 
water on the flour and kneaded up a dough. This they 
drew out by its elasticity, and wound round a stick or ramrod 
in spiral fashion, and held it over the flames until it was baked 
and then broke it ofi" the stick. Having eaten what they 
could, and having filled their haversacks with this kind of 
bread and bacon streaming with grease, and had their clothes 
dried, themselves warmed and put into good humour; and 
having been told by their officers that they were a set of 
greasy-looking cannibals, while the officers themselves were 
not a whit better looking, they were ordered to fall in, and the 
line of march was taken up about 10 o'clock — Price's army 
having moved on at daybreak. 

Thus the large quantities of army stores which had been 
collected here throughout the autumn and winter were 
destroyed, to prevent them falling into the hands of the enemy. 

We continued our march southward, it being understood 
that we were to take up a strong position at Boston Mountain, 
where the whole force would be concentrated. 

We had scarcely left Fayetteville when the enemy's cavalry 
entered it. They seemed to be a bold and audacious corps, 
and evidently wished to display some dash. Our boys were 
longing to get a shot at the chap with the red feather, and it 
seemed once or twice that day that they would have got their 
wish, for they followed upon our rear and appeared on our 
flanks. We gave them a few shots, but they contrived to keep 
pretty well out of range. 

This day turned out like the previous one, heavy snow 
and sleet came on, and a most disagreeable night was passed. 
Without tents, and the sleet falHng, we could only huddle 
round the camp fires, but sleep or rest was impossible. Next 
day was equally bad, and it seemed as if winter was just 
setting in with greater severity than ever, the roads were also 
in a dreadful condition, being cut up by the trains and the 
number of waggons transporting stores southward. However, 
this evening, we got to our destination. 

We now got tents, and a camp was formed and a position 
taken up commanding the road leading to the south, and which 
we could hold against a force of double our numbers. 

It was obvious that M'Culloch was going to adopt the 
tactics he had done with Halleck's army in the autumn, which 
was, that he would station his main army in a strong and 



280 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

well-protected position, where it could not be flanked by- 
numbers, while with flying detachments he would hover round 
the enemy, and, knowing the country better, would cut ofi* 
outlying detachments, worry and harass them by cutting off' 
their supplies, and otherwise weaken them, while he would use 
every endeavour to augment and strengthen his own forces, 
and ultimately be able to advance and compel the enemy 
either to retreat, or attack him in his strong position. In this 
he seemed likely to succeed. 

What had been the 2nd brigade at Oakhill, in which was 
the mounted infantry, was now called the 1st brigade, and 
under command of late colonel, now Brigadier General 
M'Intosh. The brigade in which our regiment was, was now 
called the 2nd brigade, and was under command of Colonel 
Hebert of our regiment Avho was acting as Brigadier, M'Culloch 
acting as a major-general over the whole division. 

A few days after we had taken up this position, M'CuUoch 
brought into the camp several army waggons Avith supplies of 
the enemy, and over a hundred prisoners. He and M'Intosh 
continued to make raids on the enemy with great success, and 
almost every day some prisoners or spoil was brought in. 
The enemy's dashing cavalry seemed not to have been wishful 
of trying their strength with them. 

In the meantime our forces were fast increasing, numerous 
detachments were coming from different parts of Arkansas 
and Texas, and a large number of men, as " emergency men" had 
joined by a rule which had been recently adopted. By this 
regulation or order, men were allowed to volunteer into the 
service for a short time on a particular emergency such as a 
battle, after which they would be allowed to leave. 

A large number of such men from Fayetteville, Bentonville, 
and other places had joined and were being drilled in to be of 
service, and I may say that the system did very well, and 
these men were of considerable assistance. 'Tis true a great 
many of them had been already drilled less or more as 
Volunteers. 

General Pike was also said to have raised a brigade of 
between 3000 and 4000 men, of whom over 1000 were Indians, 
and Price's army was greatly augmented, and he had got 
several batteries of artillery, so that it was now supposed that 
we would have fully 20,000 men in all, and it was expected 
that 2000 or 3000 more would yet be added. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 281 

M'Culloch had become very popular in Arkansas and Texas, 
and his troops had great confidence in him, and men were 
joining his army, but the great evil was the disagreement 
between him and Price. This seems chiefly to have arisen 
from Price paying too much attention to what M'Culloch 
seemed to regard as idle gossip of the country people. 

Price, supposing that he knew something of the enemy's 
strength of position from information obtained through such a 
source, would advocate certain movements ; while M'Culloch, 
acting on experience, would place no confidence on any 
information obtained through Price. 

When we had been in this camp for a little over a week we 
learned that a major-general appointed by the War Depart- 
ment at Richmond was coming to take command over 
M'Culloch and Price and the whole Army of the West. 

Everyone was now on the qui vive to find out who our new 
general was to be. We soon learned that it was to be General 
Van Dorn, but all that could be learned of him was that he 
had been formerly in the regular army of the United States, 
but of his services in the present war there was no record. I 
asked my friend P., the drum-major, if he knew anything of 
him. He said he knew him to be a major of cavalry, but he 
did not know much about him, and he would ask C, who had 
served under him. C, who was about as careless a fellow as 
was in the regiment, replied that he did not know much about 
Van Dorn as an officer, but he knew him to be an excellent 
hand at playing poker. I asked what sort of an officer he was 
compared to M'Intosh. He said that as an officer he was not 
fit to enter a ten-acre field with M'Intosh. Of course there 
was not a great deal of importance to be attached to this 
account, as C. was rather an easy-going fellow ; still it was 
not very satisfactory when it was known that he was to be 
over M'Culloch and the whole Army of the West. Others 
said he had the name of being a bold and dashing officer, and 
that when he came he would do wonders and revolutionise 
matters, which turned out to be the case. 

M'Culloch continued to bring in fresh batches of prisoners 
almost every day, and a farm-house and large barn adjoining 
were filled with them. They were quite contented, and con- 
versed freely with us on the general questions of the war and 
politics, but it was impossible to draw out of them anything in 
regard to the strength or position of their army. As the 



282 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

feeding of those prisoners was a heavy drag upon our resources, 
and the enemy as yet held none of our men as prisoners to be 
got back in exchange for them, they were disarmed, paroled, 
and let go, care being taken that they could give no important 
information. 

In the meantime the enemy, who had advanced to the south 
of Fayette ville and to within 15 miles of our position, finding 
us so strongly posted, did not deem it prudent to attack us 
in this position, and, being so worried by M'Culloch's man- 
oeuvres and constant raids and attacks, they had fallen back 
towards the Missouri boundary and taken up a defensive 
position. 

It was now a common saying among our men that they 
hoped when Yan Dorn came that he would just leave -' Ben " 
(General M'Culloch) alone and he would soon have the whole 
of the enemy's army brought in by small lots at a time. 

But this was not to be. General Van Dorn telegraphed 
from a distance to stop all retrograde movements, and that the 
tactics must now be to advance, still pressing on to victory, 
accompanied by some very warlike expressions. 

There was no general order of this read ofi" on parade ; we 
only saw it in the newspapers, for which we believe it was 
intended more than for the army. 

We considered it looked very well on paper, and, though it 
had not been read ofi' to us, it would no doubt be read in many 
a drawing-room, where it Avould be better appreciated. 

About the 26th or 27th of February, Yan Dorn, who had 
arrived at Fort Smith, sent forward by telegraph an order for 
the troops to march on the 1st of March, the men to carry 10 
days' cooked rations in their haversacks, and sixty rounds of 
ammunition. 

The idea of ten days' cooked rations to be carried in their 
haversacks rather astonished the men, and they wondered if 
new haversacks were going to be issued, as it was known that 
most of the men could easily eat in one day all that could be 
crammed into their haversacks. However, they were told to 
make themselves easy on that point, for it would be something 
new for the commissary if he could furnish more than three 
days' rations, and they might rest assured that their haver- 
sacks would hold all the rations they would get. 

It seemed evident to the more thoughtful that their new 
general was giving his orders from a distance off a book or 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



28a 



map, without much knowledge of the position or condition of 
his army, the strength or position of the enemy, or the nature 
of the country in which his army was going to operate. 

It may, however, be said in advance, Avith regard to Van 
Dorn, that he was no bejewelled, gloved, or carpet officer, and 
whatever he might lack in the way of forethought, prudence, 
or military skill, he certainly did not lack courage or personal 
daring. 

As was expected, the commissary could barely furnish three 
days' rations, and that of a very poor kind. This was prepared 
and put into the men's haversacks, and what ammunition there 
was was served out, although it did not amount to 60 rounds 
to each man; and on the 2nd of March, 1862, the Confederate- 
Army of the West left its position on Boston Mountain to 
press on to victory, as Van Dorn had expressed it. 

Great need it had to press on or it would itself be pressed. 
No trains accompanied it with tents and provisions ; the so- 
called ten days' rations were all in the men's haversacks about 
enough for two days ; and the weather Avas a continuance of 
blinding snow and sleet. It was necessary that we should get 
the battle over as soon as possible. 

Our total force was about 24,000 men. The enemy's force 
was supposed to be about 26,000 men, but of course the men 
were prompted by the braggadocial cry of " What of that, one 
Southerner is equal to three Northerners," and I must say that 
I was a little amused when I heard that same saying neatly 
retorted back on them not many days afterwards. 

The first day's march was towards Fayetteville. The snow 
and sleet were blinding, and the roads in an awful condition. 
We halted for the night, but of course anything like sleep was 
out of the question. 

The second day the weather was somewhat better, and the 
sun shone out a little. In the early part of the day we heard 
a tremendous cheering among Price's troops in our rear, and 
we were made aware that General Van Dorn was riding up 
along the line. As he came up nearer to us, the cheering 
became less enthusiastic, and as he passed our regiment an 
attempt was made to get up a cheer, but it resulted in a 
failure. 

The third day the weather continued good, the sun shone- 
out, and the men's clothes and blankets got dried. This night 
some corn meal was served out to the troops, but as they had 



284 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

no means of cooking it in any way, it was of little use. This 
night we were fortunate in getting a good place to bivouac, in 
a wood where there was abundance of dry leaves, and our 
overcoats and blankets being now dry, we nestled among the 
leaves and were soon asleep. This was the first night's sleep 
we had got since leaving Boston Mountain. 

In the morning when we woke up, we found it close and 
warm, but what was our astonishment when we saw we were 
all covered over with snow. I had considerable difficulty in 
getting the boys up. They had on lying down rolled them- 
selves up in their blankets and covered themselves over with 
leaves, which in turn got snowed over, and then they felt quite 
snug, and could not or did not want to hear the call. 

We were now in the vicinity of the enemy, and the army 
closed up and moved slowly ; and in the morning an aide-de- 
camp passed to the rear for an ambulance as General Van 
Dorn had been taken very ill. This was exceedingly unfor- 
tunate just on the verge of battle, and this battle going to be 
fought entirely upon his express command and under his own 
directions and responsibility, and against the advice of one 
Avhom we considered his best general. The aide-de-camp was 
also inquiring for a doctor. 

" Get a bottle of whisky for him," cried the graceless C. in 
our company, " and that will put him all right." 

In the meantime, the army moved slowly and cautiously, 
and it was evident that no one knew the enemy's position, 
and the nature of the country was such that a large army 
might be Avithin a quarter of a mile and completely hid from 
sight. 

The Confederate army, to the best of my knowledge, con- 
sisted of two divisions. The fii^st division, of Missouri troops 
under General Price, numbered about 11,000 men; the second 
division was under General M'Culloch, and numbered about 
I 13,000 men. This latter division was made up of three 

I brigades. The first brigade, in which Avere all the mounted 

infantry, was under General M'Intosh ; the second brigade 
was under Colonel Hebert; the third brigade, called Pike's 
Indian brigade, Avas under General Pike. M'Culloch's division 
had 18 pieces of artillery; Price's division had about the same 
number, besides some mountain howitzers. The Avhole army 
was under command of General Van Dorn. 



CHAPTER XXIL 

BATTLE OF PEA KIDGE— DEATH OF m'cULLOCH AND M'INTOSH. 

On the day mentioned, the 5th of March, General Van Dorn 
being sick, and the position of the enemy not well known, 
M'Culloch went to the front with M'Intosh's brigade to 
reconnoitre. Some firing was heard that day, but nothing of 
importance was done. 

On the following day (the 6th) our brigade (the second) 
was ordered to follow up and support the first brigade and 
the artillery, which was going to make an attack on Siegel's 
division. 

I must say that I never got what the Americans would call 
the " hang " of this battle, and I do confidently believe that 
no one else ever did, whatever way reports may have pre- 
tended to place it. It was a mass of mixed up confusion from 
beginning to end. 

About 1 1 o'clock cannonading was heard in front, and we 
were ordered to hurry up. When we got up the firing had 
ceased. Siegel's advanced guard had fallen back. 

About one o'clock firing was heard again ; this time heavier, 
and we closed up. The fire of small arms was now heard, and 
the order was given, " Forward, boys," and we charged up and 
drove the enemy from their position ; but they got ofi" with 
their guns, leaving one broken axle and a good many dead and 
wounded on the ground. The order was now given to follow 
up quick and not allow them to get their guns into position 
again, but they seemed to have had their next position already 
marked out. It was very plain that Siegel, or whoever com- 
manded this force, was a very able ofiicer by the way in which 
he fell back. The broken axle, wliich had been struck by a 
shot from one of our guns, we presumed must have been either 
the axle of a gun or of a limber waggon, and they had under 
our fire before retreating either replaced it by a new one or 
taken the carriage to pieces, packed it on to a caisson, and 
carried everything ofi" except this relic, which they left lying 
on the road, as much as to say, " You can have that." 



286 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

About three o'clock they made another stand, and this time 
the affair assumed more the shape of a general battle. They 
appeared to make a stand in full force, and deployed on both 
sides of the road with their right and left mngs extended out 
into the cover of the wood. 

More of our division was brought up, including some of 
Pike's Indians. These were sent into the thicker wood against 
the enemy's right wing, while we attacked them on the left 
and centre. The battle was pretty hot here for some time. 
Siegel's force was mostly composed of Germans, and whether 
on the right they got scared by the Indians, who kept up 
hideous yells and war whoops, I do not know, but they gave 
way and fell back on the centre. 

Siegel, remembering Oakliill, had an eye to his guns, and 
took care to have his artillery well supported. E^ddently not 
wishing to risk a general battle until he joined Curtis, he now 
limbered up quickly and fell back in good order with all his 
guns. It was supposed that this was only a part of his di\*ision. 

We still followed him up. M'Intosh galloping past cried 
out, " Now, you Louisiana boys, I must have those guns to- 
night." But Siegel seemed to dangle them before us, as much 
as to say, " Don't you wish you may get them." 

About two miles beyond this there was a shallow, rapid 
running river, or large creek, through which the road led by a 
ford, where the water was about a foot deep. There was a 
wooden bridge a little above the ford, but it had been set fire 
to by Siegel's men after they had crossed. Siegel had left a 
rear guard and one or two guns to sweep the ford and annoy 
us in crossing. "We were ordered to get down the bank to the 
side of the river, keeping out of range of the artillery^ and be 
ready to cross as soon as our own artillery was brought up to 
cover us. The artillery was soon up, and we were ordered 
to cross at once, the smoke from the burning bridge partly 
obscuring the ford. The boys quickly got off their shoes and 
stockings. 

" What is that you are doing ? " cried the major. " Who ever 
heard of men stripping off their shoes and stockings to wade 
across a stream in front of an enemy's fire ? " 

" Better be shot than have wet feet this cold night, major." 

" Oh, who cares for wet feet 1 " cried the major. 

"We will soon make up the time in marching with dry 
feet." was the reply, which was true. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 287 

By this time they were nearly all over, carrying their dry 
shoes and stockings, and soon had them on at the other side. 
The major had entered the water to cross, when a parting 
discharge of grape from one of Siegel's guns swept the ford, 
but doing no damage except to the major's horse, which was 
struck by a grape shot on the knee. At the same moment it 
was cried out that Siegel's two guns were off at full gallop. 
The recall was now sounded, and we had to strip our shoes 
and stockings and recross again. The major's horse stood still 
in the middle of the stream and could not move, and the major 
cried out to some of them to come and carry him ashore, but 
the boys began to laugh and retort on him by saying, " Who 
cares for wet feet ? Try it, major." The water was certainly 
nipping cold and it was freezing hard. At last one stout 
fellow carried the major ashore, and one or two of them did 
the last office for the poor horse by sending balls through his 
head, and he fell dead in the stream. I confess I felt more 
pity at seeing the poor horse shot down as he cast an imploring 
look on his friends, than at all the slaughter I had seen that 
afternoon. 

I could not follow the rest of the movements throughout 
that evening. There was heavy firing in other parts all 
round, and we were marched and countermarched in many 
directions, while horse, foot, and artillery were moving hither 
and thither. Siegel had no doubt joined Curtis to prepare for 
the general battle. 

After marching back a good long way in the direction we 
had come, we came to a halt at an open space where a lot of 
dead trees lay on the bank of a gravelly creek. It was now 
near midnight, and some large fires were burning, and some 
prisoners who had been taken were sitting round them chatting 
away with some of our men. 

It was rather amusing to hear the conversation at such a 
time and under such circumstances ; the subject of the present 
campaign of course being tabooed. It was something like the 
following : — 

Confederate. — Do you know in Chicago ? He is a 

cabinet-maker \ he used to have a place at the corner of 
Street. 

Federal. — Oh yes, I know him very well ; he is in the same 
place still. I have a brother who worked for him. One of his 
sons went down South about two years ago. 



288 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Confederate. — Yes, that was Stephen ; I knew him in New 
Orleans ; he joined the New Orleans Cadets and went off with 
the 2nd Louisiana, 

Federal. — He has other two sons — one of them is Avith us, 
the other is a lieutenant in the 5 th Illinois, and I think is in 
Halleck's army. 

Confederate. — Does D. and R. still carry on that foundry 
business there % 

Federal. — Yes. D. is dead, but one of his sons carries on 
the business ; another of his sons is in the 7th Illinois — a 
captain, I think. 

Coifederate No. 2. — Do you know old , that has a large 

gasfitting establishment in St. Louis. I think it is in 

Street % 

Federal No. 2. — Yes ; some of his sons went down South a 
while ago. 

Confederate. — Yes ; two of them came down and started a 

branch business in as agents for their father. One of 

them is now in our regiment — that is D. ; but B. went North 
in the spring and could not get back, as the blockade had been 
put on at Cairo. 

Federal. — Well, I knew them both. B. joined the 7th 
Missouri, and is now with us in Curtis's division. 

Confederate. — Are you not of Curtis's di\ision % 

Federal. — No ; we are of Siegel's (but a shake of the head 
here gave warning that that was approaching the tabooed 
subject). 

An order now came to move on again. " Prisoners this 
way." The prisoners were to be sent to the rear, and we were 
to march to some other position. 

The prisoners rose up, put on their heavy overcoats, while 
they and our men heartily shook hands at parting, bidding 
good-bye as follows : — 

Federals. — Well, good-bye, boys ; good luck to you, and take 
care of yourselves. 

Confederates. — All right ; we will try to do so ; these are 
fine comfortable greatcoats of yours for this weather. 

Federals. — Yes ; they are very warm, and need it for this 
weather ; good-bye ! And away they went in charge of a 
guard. 

As we moved away I could hardly help reflecting on the 
manner of the conversation I had been hearing and what a 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 289 

strange thing was war, and particularly such a war as this, 
although that night I had not much time to moralise, but I 
have often thought of it since. Here was a man in our com- 
pany who had a brother who a year ago had been a member of 
our company, but was now in the army opposed to us, and 
with which we were to engage in deadly conflict within a few 
hours. Hundreds of instances there were of the same kind, 
and this not through any feeling or sentiment of their own or 
sympathy with either side, but merely owing to the location 
where they happened to be sojourning at the time. 

Cold, hungry, and fatigued we moved sullenly along, some 
of the lads almost sleeping on their feet. We stopped at a 
place where a strip of wood came to a point. I forget what it 
was like. Here some big fires were made, and we were ordered 
to rest till daylight. 

All manner of reports were now afloat. Aides-de-camp 
flying past stopped to tell us that the fighting for the day had 
been entirely in our favour, and that we had sorely crippled 
the enemy ; that Price had got in their rear, and that they 
were cutting a road through the woods to effect their escape. 

" Then let them go," cried some of the boys who were 
huddling by the fires vainly trying in the cold to sleep. 

" On no," would be the answer ; " we have now got in their 
rear and completely hemmed them in, and we will capture all 
their supplies, and they have a large stock, and before this 
time to-morrow you will have more provisions than you know 
what to do with." 

It is true we were in their rear, but they were also in our 
rear, and they had the advantage of being in a strong position, 
while, from the rough and wooded nature of the country it was 
almost impossible to find out how their forces were placed or 
in what way we could attack them to advantage. 

At daylight some waggons came up with flour and corn-meal,, 
but only a very small quantity for each man, and, as we had 
no cooking utensils, the men had to do the best they could 
with their small allowance by rolling it into dough upon a 
stone and sticking it into the hot ashes of the fires, and eating 
it half-raw, half-burned, and mixed with cinders. It was 
certainly scandalous that the commissaries in these flying 
marches and without camp equipage never tried to provide the 
men with any kind of ready-made bread or biscuit. 

Shortly after daylight, scattered cannonading was heard in 

T 



290 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

different directions, and occasionally a pattering of small arms, 
and we could see parties of horsemen scrambling on the tops 
of the numerous small hills through the trees and brushwood, 
amongst whom we could often recognise the figures of General 
M'Culloch and General M'Intosh. This firing and recon- 
noitring seemed to have been intended to draw the fire of the 
enemy's artillery and show their position, but they were too 
'cute to reply. 

About ten o'clock we were ordered to move forward on the 
same road that we had fought upon the previous day. As we 
marched along, some small parties of mounted infantry came 
out of the woods in exceeding bad humour. They had been 
engaged with small detachments of the enemy, which had 
driven them back, and they were crying out for reinforcements. 
Of course we could give tliem no satisfaction, and our men 
only laughed and derided them, and cried to go back and pitch 
in again. After proceeding about three miles in this direction 
a halt was called, and we soon saw the 1st brigade which had 
been in advance, returning, and, of course, we were to counter- 
march and follow them. Just as the last of the 1st brigade 
had passed, I observed General M'Culloch riding behind them 
accompanied by two aides-de-camp. There was something in 
the general's countenance which betokened no good. I never 
saw such a change in a man's face. He seemed haggard and 
worn out with fatigue, but beyond this, there was in his 
countenance a mixed expression of melancholy, despair and 
anger, which he seemed to try to hide, for, as he rode past he 
nodded to our captain, and said in an easy manner, " We are 
going to take 'em on the other wing." 

But it was easy to read through his countenance the 
■expression — "Well, I will do it, but I know it is going to 
destruction." 

" We have got them all penned up now, boys," said one of the 
aides, " and you have nothing to do but to shoot them down." 

"Tell that to the marines," said one or two voices, after 
they had passed. 

Such prattling was thrown away upon our men ; they were 
now too old to mind such chaff; they saw how things were, 
and they could read in the general's countenance that there 
was something wrong. 

"Where is that Major-General Damdborn, or whatever 
they call him ?" cried one; " is he still sick ? " 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 291 

" Oh, no," cried another, " I hear he is all right again." 

" They must have got him that bottle of whisky I prescribed 
for him," said the graceless C. ; "I bet you he and old Price 
were playing poker all last night." 

It had been whispered all round that since Van Dorn had 
taken command, he had taken part more with Price than 
M'Culloch, and had become very friendly with the former. 
Of course Price's political influence in Missouri counted for a 
good deal at Richmond. 

" Shut up, C," cried another, " I take up for Price, let him 
be what he may, he will not neglect his duty, or the care or 
interests of his army ; and if he is fond of retreating, he is not 
backward in attacking again, and if he gets his army into a 
fix, he can always manage to get them out of it again." 

" And who is to get us out if we get into a fix ? " 

« Ben." 

"Yes, if he lives." 

There was something ominous in this last expression, whether 
it arose from the strange expression they had observed in the 
general's face or not, I know not, but it had the effect of 
damping the conversation and the men marched along in 
silence. 

What was said about General Price was strictly true. He 
exercised great care over his army, and though a man advanced 
in years, he was most zealous and indefatigable in his duties, 
and possessed considerable ability. 

M'Culloch had certainly not been well treated, he had been 
superseded in his command, and placed in a subordinate 
position, and the army which he had so well managed and led 
to victory, reduced to wretched starvation, and blindly ordered 
to advance against a superior force, strongly posted and 
whose strength or position it was impossible to find out. 

We now began to find that the enemy was posted on that 
ridge forming the gusset where the road leading from Spring- 
field down into Arkansas branched off. It was an extensive 
ridge, extending for several miles, and might be called an 
assemblage of small hills and ridges. It was called "Pea 
Ridge," I presume, from the number of wild peas which grew 
in the district. 

It was somewhere on this ridge that we had been posted in 
November, while acting on the defensive against Halleck's 
army but things were now reversed. The enemy held the 



292 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

advantageous position, and was acting on the defensive, and 
we were the attacking party. 

The ridge may be described as something like a triangle — 
the apex pointing northwards, and terminating at the road 
which led to Missouri, and along the base were rocky hills and 
deep gullies, while along the two sides were roads branching 
off from the Missouri road at the point, one leading to the 
eastward, which was called the Elkhorn road, from an inn or 
tavern of that name ; the other, leading southward I think, 
was called the Bentonville road, though of that I am not 
certain. 

Up this latter named road we had driven the enemy on the 
preceding day, and returned back, and advanced again in 
the morning, and were now marching back as M'Culloch had 
said "to take 'em on the other wing." 

At about four miles from the point, the distance across the 
ridge between the two roads might be about four miles, and 
about four miles from the point, on the Bentonville road, there 
was between the road and the ridge a stretch of level cleared 
fields, which indented into the wooded ridge, leavT.ng the high 
ridge about three miles broad. Of course, this is only a very 
rough survey, and may not be very accurate. 

Across the ridge at this part, the enemy were supposed to 
be posted fronting northwards. Their right rested on the 
Elkhorn road, and their left on the level fields between the 
ridge and the Bentonville road, their rear being protected by 
rocky hills and deep gullies, while the ridge in front of them 
being in most places, rugged, rocky, and wooded, was quite 
impassable for horse or artillery ; and their whole force was 
entirely hid from view by the hills and woods, and would have 
to be felt for. 

The plan of attack seems to have been that Price should 
attack them on their right from the Elkhorn road, while 
M'Culloch's division should attack them on the left from the 
Bentonville road. 

Near the edge of the ridge on the Bentonville road we 
halted, and here the three brigades were drawn up, not in 
order of battle, but in reserve, ready to act. Here was the 
1st brigade, under General M'Intosh. The 2nd brigade, under 
Colonel Hebert, acting brigadier; and the 3rd brigade 
under General Pike, vvith three batteries of artillery of six 
guns each — the whole division under General M'Culloch. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 293 

About noon, orders were given to the 2nd brigade to strip 
for battle, and I heard the words of the general as he gave 
the orders to Colonel Hebert : — 

" You shall advance with your 2nd brigade, and attack their 
left wing, and as soon as you have drawn their fire, you shall 
have support speedily — and good support too." 

The 1st and the 3rd brigades and the artillery were ordered 
to be in readiness to advance and support the 2nd brigade. 
Blankets and topcoats were thrown off, and we advanced to 
the attack. General M'Culloch and General M'Intosh accom- 
panying the brigade with the object, no doubt, of observing 
the position of the enemy after the fire opened, and seeing 
where the 1st and 3rd brigades could be brought in to advan- 
tage. 

We advanced by a sort of a farm-road between two rail fences 
which led across the level fields towards the wooded ridge. In 
these fields there had been wheat grown which had been 
reaped in the autumn, and, as was usual in those countries, 
the wheat had been threshed in the field, and the straw left 
in large piles on the ground. We had got about half way 
across, when a battery which had been hid by one of those 
piles of straw upon our right, opened on us with grape and 
canister. The order was given never to mind but to push on 
at double quick — the generals would attend to the battery. 
Fortunately, the ground upon the side of the road next the 
battery was something above the level of the road, and the 
rail fence considerably marred the grape shot. The men bent 
their bodies, trailed arms and ran along at double quick. 
They did not require to be told to close up ; that grape shot had 
a most disagreeable whistle as it passed within a foot or 
two of their ears, which was incentive sufficient. 

We reached the wood without much damage, where we 
formed again. But just as we had done so, we heard a loud 
whooping and a great rattle of small arms behind us in the 
direction of the battery. The battery was soon silenced, and 
a loud hurrah showed the guns had been captured by the 
Indians, and our astonishment was still greater when we saw 
the whole battery with limber waggons and caissons of ammu- 
nition in flames. It seemed that the Indians had a great 
horror of artillery, and being commanded by their own chief, 
(Standwattie, I think was his name) when they got possession 
of the guns, they determined, like the old woman at Oakhill, 



294 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

to " burn the pesky things," So, gathering the wheat straw 
they piled it round the gun carriages and set fire to it, and 
thus the carriages, ammunition chests, and everything of wood 
was burned, the guns falling useless on the ground, while the 
explosions of the ammunition and bursting of the shells made 
the Indians clear off, thinking the things were possessed by 
the Evil One, and that even fii^e would not destroy them. 
This was so much done, one of the enemy's batteries destroyed, 
but we had to move cautiously against an unseen foe, who was 
doubtless lying in wait and ready to receive us. The leaves 
Avere not entirely off' the trees, but we could see through the 
woods much better than in summer. The ground was very 
rough and covered in many places with large boulders, hillocks, 
and fallen trees. 

We proceeded very cautiously in line. The generals seemed 
to be trying to discover something of the enemy from the tops 
of little eminences. A few shots from their artillery at a 
distance in another direction were falling amongst us, but 
nothing could be seen of their main body. The wood was 
now getting thicker, and we could not see more than fifty 
yards in front. 

Suddenly something like a tremendous peal of thunder 
opened all along our front, and a ridge of fire and smoke 
appeared close before us, and the trees round us and over our 
heads rattled with the bullets, as if in a heavy hail-storm. Our 
boys quickly returned the fire. Colonel Hebert, who had 
been in front on horseback, quickly sprang to the rear, he 
being caught between the two fires. 

The order was now, " Close in upon them, boys — forward ! " 
We knew the Federal arms were better than ours for distant 
fighting and our object was to keep them at short range. 

A desperate battle now commenced. We kept advancing 
and they falling steadily back. Their fire was very heavy, but 
strange to say we did not seem to suffer much from it. We 
had advanced past where they had first opened fire, and their 
dead lay thick. 

They, knowing the superiority of their arms over ours, kept 
falling back to keep us at long shot, while we followed them 
up to keep at close range. This was a considerable advantage 
to us. Our advancing upon them kept us enveloped in the 
dense smoke, while their falling back kept them in the clear 
atmosphere where they could be easily seen. Our men squatted 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 295 

down when loading, then advanced and squatted down again, 
and looking along under the smoke could take good aim ; while 
the enemy, firing at random into the smoke, much of their shot 
passed over our heads. 

This fighting continued for over an hour, and we must have 
advanced fully half-a-mile, when we saw the open field in front 
of our right, but the wood continued still in front of our left. 
This was caused by us coming out to the corner of the open 
fields, which were here bounded by the woods on two sides at 
about a right angle. Here the enemy quickly disappeared 
from our right front, but they had scarcely done so when a 
sweeping fire of grape and canister was poured upon us from 
a battery in the corner of the field. This for a moment 
staggered our men, but in a state of fury they rushed forward 
on the guns. Four of the guns the enemy succeeded in getting 
away, but two were captured. We closed up towards the 
wood in front of our left, the firing having now ceased, and 
the enemy had disappeared. 

Here we found that a large body of the enemy had been 
posted, and the battle here had been severe ; the ground was 
covered with their baggage, and the dead lay thick. They had 
fallen back, and we had gained their camp and position. The 
position was one of some advantage, being bounded on one 
side by a deep gully, across which the enemy seemed to have 
retreated. 

We thought we had gained one victory at least, and the 
men sent up a loud cheer. It was answered by a still louder 
cheer of defiance from the wooded mountain-side in front of 
our left beyond the gully, showing that the enemy was there 
in strong force, having fallen back to a stronger position where 
it would be impossible for us to attack them with our present 
force ; and we began to realise that, as far as we saw, we were 
but a small force and in considerable confusion or mixed up, 
and there did not seem to be any movement towards forming 
us into order again, and inquiries began to be made as to 
where were the officers, when the sound of a bugle was heard 
in the rear on our right. The cry at first was that this was 
the 1st and 3rd brigades coming up to our support; others 
again said it was no bugle of ours, it was a cavalry bugle and 
must be the enemy. But where were all our officers ? was the 
question asked all round — not a field-officer of any kind was to 
be seen. But here come our reinforcements, and all eyes were 



296 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

turned towards a body of troops advancing in the woods on 
our right and rear from the direction in which we had heard 
the bugle, and the way in which we expected our reinforce- 
ments to come. 

The cry of " The enemy " was next called out as they opened 
fire upon us, and we found we were attacked in the rear, and the 
enemy had got between us and the other part of our division. 

The battle was renewed again and we were fighting in a 
reversed position and facing back in the direction we had 
come. After some fighting the enemy was driven back at this 
point and retired into the wood, but only to return to the attack 
again and again. They were scarcely driven back when an 
attack was made on our left and front by a party of the enemy 
which had recrossed the gully, seemingly with the object of 
recapturing the two guns, but after a pretty hard fight they 
were repulsed. 

But where were our officers ? The highest officer to be seen 
was a captain. Where was Major T. ? Where was Colonel 
Hebert who was in command of the brigade ? Where were all 
the other colonels and field-officers ? We knew some of them 
were down, but surely not all. No one could give any account. 
The captain of our company was missing, the first and second 
lieutenants were not with the company, the first not having 
recovered from his wounds, the second on detached service. 
There was now only Lieutenant G. with the company ; he was, 
however, brave and active. He and I consulted with the one 
or two line officers of our regiment that were now to be seen 
on the state of matters, but they or no one could give any 
explanation of why we were thus placed or what we were to 
do. We had evidently cut through the centre of the enemy's 
left wing and were between two fires. 

The fearful cannonade and distant roll of small arms far 
upon our left on the other side of the ridge told that heavy 
fighting was going on there, but why we should be left here, 
surrounded by the enemy without support and without orders, 
was what we could not understand. Where were the 1st and 
the 3rd brigades that should have followed and supported us ? 

Our conversation was cut short by another attack of the 
enemy .upon our right and rear, this time more determined, 
but they were again driven back. 

The situation now looked desperate, and what was to be 
done ? It was now certain that we were not going to be 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 297 

reinforced. Some cried out that we must stand here and sell 
our lives as dearly as possible. The two captured guns stood 
in the field.^ It was now very unlikely that we would long be 
able to hold them, and it was suggested that we should spike 
them, and then try and cut our way back through the enemy 
on our right and rear; but we could find no spikes in the 
limber waggon, and the small end of a ramrod was driven into 
the touch-holes and then broken off and driven in tight with 
round shot. 

This was scarcely done when a battery opened on us from a 
point far away on our right and rear, and some round shot came 
tearing amongst us. This battery seemed to be placed near 
where we had started from at noon, and where we had left the 1st 
and 3rd brigades and the artillery. This made confusion worse 
confounded, and our case seemed hopeless. At last it was 
suggested that this must be one of our own batteries, who 
mistook us for the enemy, and we held up our colours for them 
to see. The conjecture seemed to be correct, for the firing was 
at once stopped, and we were satisfied that our friends were 
still there, but why they did not come to our support was 
inexplicable. The enemy was between us and them, but they 
could not be in very strong force. 

A consultation was again held as to what should be done. 
The four battalions of the brigade had got much mixed up, 
but still they always managed to form quickly in line without 
regard to the companies or even regiments being mixed, and 
it was decided to form up in regular order the remains of the 
brigade, attack the enemy on our right and rear, cut our way 
through, and get back to where we had left the 1st and 3rd 
brigades at noon. 

The line was being formed in the field just along the edge 
of the wood. I was standing in front of our company closing 
them up, when suddenly I heard a rush or rustling like a 
storm of wind passing through the woods, and one of the boys 
cried out to me, " Look out, sergeant." I looked around, and 
there about 50 yards distant, coming down upon us in full 
career, was a large body of cavalry. They came on in beauti- 
ful order, with their long heavy swords at a guard, their lines 
as regular as if on parade, and a look of malicious triumph in 
their faces, which seemed to say, " We have got you now." I 
had scarcely time to step back into the ranks, every man stood 
firm, their pieces levelled steady, with the deadly determina- 



298 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

tion of despair, not a trigger was drawn until within 25 
yards, when our fire opened — not in a volley, but in a steady 
continued fusilade. Then down went men and horses. Some 
horses plunged and reared in the air ; others tumbled forward 
and threw their riders uninjured among our ranks ; some of 
the horses in falling rolled right up to our men's feet, they 
standing back just as a man at the sea-side would stand back 
from a large wave that came up farther than the rest. The 
second squadron, not being able to check their velocity, tumbled 
over the first, our troops meanwhile keeping up a steady fire 
upon them. The field in front of us was literally piled up ^^dth 
dead men and horses. The third squadron was seen through 
the smoke trying to wheel, when I heard several voices cry 
out, " There he is ; down with him." I was looking forward 
to see what it was, and there was that dashing officer %vith the 
red feather, whom we had seen before, falling from his horse 
riddled with balls, and the broken remnants of his splendid 
cavalry flying in disorder from the field. 

All this happened in less time than I can write it. The 
smoke cleared away, and the field in front of us presented a 
scene of slaughter. 

Not a word was spoken, not a cheer was raised. Our 
men stood motionless, seemingly speechless and amazed at 
their own work. 

This gallant though rash charge of cavalry — this firmness 
of our men as they stood before the threatening avalanche, 
and poured their deadly fire on them Avith such earnest steadi- 
ness and precision, while the slaughtered squadrons reeled and 
fell, seemed to me, from a military point of view, by far the 
most brilliant feat that I witnessed during my experience in 
the war. Yet, strange to say, I have never seen any record 
of it mentioned in reports on either side. It was no doubt on 
a small scale, and indeed very little of the details of what was 
done at that time and place ever found its way into print. 

Of this cavalry all we ever could learn was that it was a 
regiment got up as a crack corps. It was splendidly mounted 
and equipped, well trained, and full of dash, and no doubt 
wishing to record their name in some brilliant charge, and 
emulate the light brigade at Balaclava, made this onset which 
resulted in their destruction. And the affair, with the other 
events which took place on this afternoon at the same place, 
having no one to report or record them, were lost in the stir- 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 299 

ring events of the time, and passed over as best to be buried 
in oblivion. 

On the field in front of us many of the men were struggling 
to extricate themselves from the horses which had fallen upon 
them. 

" Go and help the poor de\dls," cried some. And several 
who were unhurt were extricated, and with those who 
had tumbled into our ranks were made prisoners. But what 
were we to do with them when we were little better than 
prisoners ourselves. 

Captain G. of a neighbouring company, Avho was now one of 
the few ofiicers of our regiment left fit for duty, was suffering 
from a bad cold, and was extremely hoarse, and the powder 
smoke having got into his throat, he was coughing violently 
and almost speechless. He turned to me, and after an effort 
said seriously enough, "Would to God it was night or 
reinforcements would come." I remembered the words of 
Wellington. 

The sun was now getting low. I suggested that we should 
send out some scouts to take a peep round, and find if there 
was a large body of the enemy on our right and rear. (The 
cavalry having come from that direction indicated that the 
enemy must be there in force.) He objected to my suggestion, 
" For," said he, "I fear that is where so many of our officers 
have gone and fallen into a trap." There was now a lull, and 
there was no firing round where we were, but we heard the 
battle still raging furiously far on our left on the other side of 
the ridge. The excitement being over, the pangs of hunger 
set in, and the men were soon ransacking the enemy's old 
camp but did not find any food. They then went among the 
slain and rifled their haversacks. A cry went up that they 
were plundering, but when it was told that they were only 
taking the food out of the dead men's haversacks, considering 
their wretched state of starvation, it was excusable. 

But now a horseman was seen coming galloping across the 
fields waving a white handkerchief. 

" Here comes a flag of truce," cries one, "we are completely 
surrounded, and it is a demand for us to surrender." 

" 'Tis not," cried another, "it is a captain of artillery from 
one of our own batteries," and this was correct. 

" Is this ISTorth or South ? " cried he, as he approached. 

" South," was the answer. 



300 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

" All right. Is it the 2nd brigade ? " 

'' Yes." 

" Was it you I fired into some time ago 1 " 

" It was." 

He then explained that since the time we had marched off 
to open the battle at noon, he with the other two batteries 
had been awaiting orders but had got none. He had watched 
the hard fighting throughout the afternoon, but could not 
distinguish friend from foe. And it was when we had changed 
front and turned round to fight the enemy on our right and 
rear, that he mistook us for the enemy and fired upon us. 

He had seen or heard nothing of M'OuUoch, M'Intosh, 
Hebert, or any of the field officers of our brigade, and no 
orders had come to him or to the other batteries, or to the 
1st and 3rd brigades that he knew of. There was some 
terrible mistake or mishap somewhere, and he could wait no 
longer but must gallop back to his post in case some orders 
should arrive in his absence. 

It was now near sunset, and it was freezing hard and getting 
very cold, and the little water we had in our canteens was 
frozen, and whether it is from inhaling the smoke of the powder 
or from the general excitement or perhaps both I do not know, 
but thirst is generally very prevalent on a field of battle. 

The lull in the fighting continued, and no further attacks 
were made. The main body of the enemy on our left and front, 
probably not knowing the weakness of our force, did not seem 
inclined to come from their strong position and attack us, 
while it was quite possible for the smaller force on our right 
and rear to pass across our rear and join their friends. 

I again proposed to the officers to go out and reconnoitre on 
our right and rear, and try to find if the enemy was still in 
force, but, to tell the truth, my real object was to try and get 
some water and perhaps something to eat from the enemy's 
haversacks, which were lying on the ground. I was allowed 
to go, but was ordered to take a few men with me so that some 
of us might get back to report. I took about 10 men with me 
and proceeded cautiously. The men, who as well as myself 
had an eye to some grub, as they called it, helped themselves 
from the haversacks of the enemy's dead as we passed on, and 
within the thicker part of the wood it was not so cold, and the 
water in the canteens not being frozen, the men decanted it 
into their own canteens. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 301 

When we got near the place where we expected the enemy 
to be, we saAv a Avounded man of the enemy sitting on the 
ground leaning his back against a tree. He was wounded in 
the leg and unable to walk, and he asked us for some water. 
Thinking to get some information out of him, I asked him why 
he asked from us when his friends were close by, pointing in 
the direction I supposed them to be. He said they were gone, 
he supposed, to join the main army if they could get past our 
forces. One of my men brought him a canteen of water and a 
pretty well-filled haversack taken from one of his dead com- 
rades, telling him at the same time to take care he did not lie, 
as we were going in that direction, and if he found he told a 
lie he would shoot him. The man pointed with his hand and 
said they had gone in that direction, but that was all he could 
.say about them, and he was afraid he would die of cold if left 
there. We could not help him, but some of the men cut some 
of the heavy coats off his dead comrades and gave liim to ^vYSi^p 
round him, still assuring him that they would shoot him if 
they found he had told a lie. I tried to get some further 
information out of him but could not. 

We left this man and went on a little further, being now 
more confident. We soon came to a place where a large force 
had been shortly before. The snow, which lay here and there 
in patches, was much trampled, and there was appearance of a 
large body of horse ha^dng been there recently, probably that 
was where the cavalry had assembled before charging us, 
but all seemed to have gone. Just then we heard firing again 
where we had left our friends, and we hastened back. The firing 
was soon over, as it had not been much of an attack. On our 
way back we passed through the place where the hea^dest of 
the fighting had been. The trees were thickly spotted T\dth 
bullet marks, but those which had come against us were mostly 
high up and above the level of our heads, while those that had 
gone from us, though much less in number, were lower down 
and within five feet of the ground. 

On the way back my men picked up some of the arms from 
the field — those of the enemy being mostly Enfield rifles, 
Belgian rifles, and Colt repeating rifles, the two former -v^dth 
raised sights, all set for 200 yards. 

We got back and reported what we had seen. It was now 
pretty certain that the enemy had gone from our right and 
rear. But all eyes were now fixed on a body of cavalry that 



302 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

was forming on the fields at a distance on our right. Was 
this going to be another charge down upon us ? It was now 
getting dark and it was difficult to make out their flag. Some 
were sure it was our own men, a part of the 1st brigade. I 
knew that they had not come out of the wood where we had 
seen traces of the enemy's cavalry ; but far beyond that and 
near the place where we had left the 1st and 3rd brigades 
at noon. I volunteered to go with my party and reconnoitre, 
keeping within the wood. I did not wait for answer, but 
started off", tired as we were, but glad to get anything to keep 
us in heat. We passed along keeping within the wood until 
near to them, when we peeped out, and could see their flag 
plainly, and I think for the first time in my life, I hailed with 
joy sincere the Confederate flag. We went out towards them, 
and two officers rode forward to meet us, when we told them 
who we were, and pointed to where the 2nd brigade was. 
They started at the gallop towards it, while we followed 
leisurely. 

When we got back the two officers were in earnest and 
serious conversation with the officers of our brigade. The 
troops we had seen turned out to be the 2nd Texas Cavalry, 
and this was their colonel and another officer that had ridden 
out to meet us. 

After some serious consultation between them and our 
officers it was decided to form up the remains of the brigade 
and retire from this position. It was now pretty dark, and 
getting the men together was a little difficult. I missed about 
24 out of the company, three of whom I knew to be dead, 
and five were present wounded, and had got mounted on 
horses which had been caught riderless — quite a number of 
our wounded, all over the brigade were now mounted on the 
fine cavalry horses which had fallen into our hands. 

As we left the field the cries of the wounded imploring not 
to be left to die of cold was heartrending, and a halt was 
made for a party to volunteer to go without arms and attend 
to them, taking the chance of being made prisoners by the 
enemy. After consulting with Lieutenant C, I gave the 
names of the missing, and those I supposed to be on the 
ground wounded, and we sent four men to look after them, 
Lieutenant G. saying he would take the responsibility without 
anyone's orders. I remarked at the time that I feared that 
we had now no longer aC our head a general who knew his 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 303 

duty, and could treat with the enemy as at Oakhill on such 
matters. Lieutenant G. pulled me by the arm, saying — 
"Hush, man; don't talk that way." 

" I will talk that way," said I, bitterly ; "I fear the worst 
for Generals M'Culloch and M'Intosh, and if they are gone 
there is not a general left worth the name, and has there 
been anything like generalship here to-day, or throughout any 
part of this campaign 1 " 

" W.," said he, " you are well off at not being hampered by a 
commission; if I were as free as you I might talk the same way 
about this campaign, but let me tell you one thing, and I don't 
want you to say anything about it to the men, but this is 
certain — M'Culloch is dead, M'Intosh is dead ; they both fell 
about the first opening of the fire. Hebert is missing, Major 
T. is missing, every field officer in the brigade is hors de combat. 
Colonel M'C. is wounded. Colonel M'N. is wounded, and a 
great many other officers are wounded or missing ; and I don't 
know who now commands the brigade, or even the regiment." 
" Where did you hear this ?" said I. 

" From Colonel of the 2nd Texas Cavalry ; and there 

is said to be more bad news, besides that." 
"What is that?" said I. 

" The 3rd brigade is broken up, and a lot of them gone 
away." 

" Gone away ! How do you mean ? " 
" Skedaddled, I suppose," said he. 

"Well," said I, "if M'Culloch and M'Intosh are gone, 
good-bye to the Army of the West." 

" That is the way," continued he, " that we were not rein- 
forced. The 1st and 3rd brigades, and the three batteries of 
artillery have been lying idle all day awaiting orders, and no 
orders came to them, and I suppose Hebert and other officers, 
going to find out the cause, fell into the hands of the enemy." 
" And where," said I, " was the Commander-in-Chief Van 
Dorn, who should be seeing to everything ? Will he be down 
also, that there was no one to see to how things were going 
on in this part of the field?" 

"Oh, that I don't know," said he; "there seems to be 
something wrong somewhere." 

It was now dark, but the cannonade on our left and the 
enemy's right was still raging furiously, suggesting that there 
must be a good many pieces of artillery on both sides. The 



304 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

darkness of the night, the bleak moaning of the cold wind, and 
the continued roar of artillery would have suggested a theme 
for a weird romancer, but we saw no romance about it. We 
felt it bitterly cold, and the heavy fire of the artillery we 
considered was little more than a gross waste of ammunition. 

We now took a position near the Bentonville road to await 
orders, but we were forbidden to make fires lest the enemy 
should observe us. A party was sent to bring up our over- 
coats and blankets from the place where we had stripped 
before going into battle. They returned with the unwelcome 
news that everything had been carried off, and we were left 
without overcoats or blankets, and the night was bitter cold. ' 

We then insisted on making fires, as better be killed by the 
enemy than be frozen to death. This was then allowed and a 
guard thrown out. Large fires were made, and the men tried 
to get a little sleep, but that was impossible, for when their 
clothes were burning on one side the other side was freezing, 
and they had to keep turning round like a roast on a spit to 
keep from being frozen. Darkness had now stopped the 
fighting and all was still. About two hours after we had 
lighted the fires the alarm was spread that we were attacked, 
and some firing was heard, and all jumped up and seized their 
arms. It turned out, however, to be a false alarm. The cause 
of the alarm was this : Some of the men, suffering from the 
intense cold, remembered that they had seen in the enemy's 
camp plenty of blankets and overcoats, and slipping quietly 
off returned to the battlefield in the darkness, and having 
collected some blankets and equipping themselves in the 
enemy's overcoats they were returning with their booty, when 
one of the pickets, seeing what he naturally took by their 
greatcoats to be a party of Federals approaching, fired his 
piece and gave the alarm, other pickets doing the same, and 
hence the commotion. 

All was soon quiet again, but before they were fairly settled 
down orders came for the whole force to come round and join 
Price's army on the Elkhorn road. This, though not more 
than three miles in a direct line, was about eight miles round 
by road. 

The men got up staggering with fatigue and half-dead with 
cold and hunger, but it was better for them, as the march 
would bring heat into them. The column was formed, the 
prisoners we had captured were spread along between our files, 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 305 

and we inarched along doggedly enough. The two prisoners 
next to me and under my charge were cavalrymen who had 
tumbled into our ranks when their horses fell. Some attempts 
were made at conversation as we trudged along, but it was 
difficult to keep it up ; they were in no mood for conversation, 
neither were we. This was now the second night of the 
fighting, and the battle seemed to be as far from being decided 
as ever. 

At length we came to a halt. "We were relieved of the 
prisoners, and, as it would be an hour or two until daylight, 
we might lie down and rest. We lay down by the side of the 
road. Our company happened to be at a place where some 
rocks overhung the road, which broke off the biting winds, 
and we huddled close at the foot of the rocks and dozed a little 
in a sort of stupor. 

At the first appearance of dawn the artillery burst forth 
again, and we rose up with joints stiffened with cold and 
fatigue and in no great condition or inclination to renew the 
fighting ; nevertheless, not a murmur was heard, and everyone 
moved mechanically to his duty. 

While we were awaiting orders the 1st brigade and the 
artillery, who had chafed at having to lie idle on the previous 
day while we were sore harassed, pushed past us to get to the 
front, cheering us as they passed and crying to us that we 
had borne the brunt of the battle yesterday, and they would 
take it to-day. Brave and gallant fellows were those of the 
1st brigade and the artillery, but they had lost their gallant 
leader, the brave M'Intosh. But where was the 3rd brigade ? 
Some of them, including some of the Indians, came up in 
broken parties and attached themselves to the 1st and 2nd 
brigades. But where was the gallant General Pike, the 
political patriot and the flower of Arkansas chivalry ? That 
question I cannot answer, for I never learned, and it would 
not do to credit all the strictures I heard passed on his action 
at the time, although it might be satisfactorily explained for 
anything we knew. 

Our ammunition being nearly exhausted, it was necessary 
that we should get a fresh supply before going into action, and 
we were moved forward to a place where we were to get it 
served out. 

We passed over a place where there seemed to have been 
heavy fighting on the previous day ; at least there appeared to 

U 



306 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

have been heavy damage done by artillery. The ground was 
ploughed up with shot and strewn with fragments of shells ; 
dead horses, broken caissons and waggons, and other debris 
lay scattered about. At last we came to the wreck of some 
of the enemy's ammunition waggons, where several boxes of 
small arms ammunition were lying open and the cartridges 
scattered about, and the men were told to help themselves. 
Our company, however, was unfortunate, as the cartridges 
were all for a larger calibre than our rifles, and no cartridges 
were found suitable for Springfield rifles. On examining the 
pouches, however, we found that we had an average left of about 
fifteen rounds to each man. We took some of the nearest 
size in our pockets, intending to pare the bullets down if we 
got time. 

The battle was now raging furiously, and our three batteries 
having joined in, added at least a good deal more to the noise. 
We were marched hither and thither, and left standing some- 
times in the range of the artillery fire and sometimes out of 
it, no one seeming to know where we were to go or what we 
were to do. We saw some of the 1st brigade who were not 
yet led into battle, and did not know the position of the 
enemy ; and there seemed to be no one able to tell them or 
direct them in any way, and they had just been told to be in 
readiness and await orders, and they were getting irritated 
and impatient. 

We were at last taken to an open position, where we were 
told to be in readiness to fall in. Here we could see some 
distance over where the fighting was going on. There was an 
open field in front, and in the wood on each side of it and 
beyond it the fighting was going on ; but, except the noise of the 
firing and the smoke issuing from the trees, we could ascertain 
nothing. Numbers of the Indians on horseback were flying 
backwards and forwards in the open field, but, whether they 
were going messages, or seeking employment, or what they 
were doing or trying to do we could not find out. 

A short distance from us, and on the wooded ridge which 
bounded the field on one side, our three batteries had taken 
up positions and had singled out the enemy's batteries and 
opened fire upon them, and were keeping up a sort of artillery 
duel ; while the enemy, replying to them and knowing there 
must be infantry near to support them, sent a good deal of 
their shot our way. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 307 

I think there is nothing so galling to troops as to have to 
stand still under an artillery fire, even though that fire be 
comparatively harmless, while other troops around them are 
actively engaged. Our men, however, at the time were too 
jaded to mind it much. They sat down on the ground, ate up 
the last of the rations they had taken from the enemy's haver- 
sacks on the previous day, smoked, and the sun now shining 
out warm many of them lay down and fell asleep. 

About 10 o'clock the firing from the artillery got very 
heavy, as also the fire from the small arms, and up to about 
11 o'clock the battle raged furiously. We supposed the 1st 
brigade had now got engaged, and we would be called up 
immediately ; but still there was no appearance of any orders, 
and several small detachments of troops which we did not 
know were posted near us also awaiting orders. 

Towards noon there was a sort of lull in the firing, and we 
heard cheering and counter-cheering, and then the fire was 
again very heavy for a short time. Our men now began to 
get impatient. 

Shortly after mid-day the fire of the artillery again slackened 
and we noticed the battery nearest to us had stopped firing alto- 
gether. Knowing this to be Captain R.'s battery, who had 
ridden over to us on the previous day, I remarked to Lieuten- 
ant G. that if I thought we would not be likely to fall in 
soon I would go over to him, and see if I could get any 
news. 

" Oh, hang it," cried he, " I believe we may lie here all day. 
I don't believe Yan Dorn knows anything about us, or " 

" Or about anything else, you were going to say," said I, 
reminding him of his checking my remarks on the previous 
day. 

" Well," cried he, half laughing, half irritated, " I do believe 
he has not got his army in hand at all, and he is making a 
regular botch of this fight ; away you go, and see if you can 
learn anything about how things are going ; you will see us if 
we are marched ofi"." 

I hastened over to the battery ; the men were sitting down 
on the ground, and Captain R. was looking round with his 
glass. On seeing me he cried out : — 

" Where are you from ? " 

" The 3rd Louisiana," said I, " don't you remember yester- 
day ?" 



308 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

" Oh, yes," said he, "I remember. Where is your regiment ? " 

" Over there," said I, " but what is the matter ? Are you 
silenced 1 " 

" Silenced ! No, d n it," said he, ." I am just waiting 

for the guns to cool a little ; besides, I am short of long range 
ammunition; I have given them the last of my round-shot, 
shells, and shrapnels — I have grape and canister left, but that 
is of no use at this distance. I have sent to see if I cannot get 
a supply, or orders, but have got neither. Wliat is your 
regiment doing to-day ? " 

"Doing nothing," said I, "standing all day awaiting 
orders." 

" Confound it," said he, " that is what the half of the army 
has been doing all through this fight. I got no orders ; I just 
came here and took up this position, and pitched in. I 
silenced one battery down there, and I could do something 
with yon fellows on the side of the hill if I could get some 
long range ammunition, but there seems to be nobody to attend 
to anything ! " 

I then asked him if he had any idea how things were 
going. 

" No," said he, "I have not ; I suppose you know that Ben 
has been killed?" 

" Yes," said I, "and M'Intosh also." 

"I tell you what it is, sergeant," said he, "if we gain a 
complete victory here to-day, which I have my doubts about, 
it will be dearly bought with the loss of these two men." 

I agreed with him, and took my leave. 

As I walked back to where the regiment lay, the firing was 
becoming gradually less. "When I got to our company, one or 
two officers from other companies were sitting with them. I 
told them all I had heard, and that Captain R. had never 
got any orders, but took up position and opened fire of his 
own accord. 

What could be the meaning of this? was now the con- 
jecture. 

" Perhaps," said one, " Van Dorn is still sick." 

" No," said another, " he was all right yesterday," 

" I heard," said another, " that Price was killed this 
morning." 

" Oh, that is quite true," said Tim D., " but he is only 
wounded." 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 309 

*' Oh, Tim, an Irish bull again," and they all laughed. 
Tim was a little irritated at their laughing at him, and did 
not think it was a time for laughing, and retorted by saying 
that they were just laughing for a brag, and wanted to make 
believe they were laughing when they were not laughing at 
all. 

The firing, which had been getting slack on both sides, had 
now nearly died away, and there were reports going that 
ammunition was a^bout spent on both sides. We now expected 
to be called on at once, and some little preparations were made, 
but still no orders came. 

It was now past one o'clock, the firing had entirely ceased, 
and everything had been quiet for the last half -hour, when an 
aide-de-camp came along and delivered some orders. 

We did not know who was in command of the brigade ; the 
regiment was commanded for the time by the senior captain, 
and orders were given to the company on the right to fall in, 
and the rest to follow the " aide " riding at the head to act as 
guide. We were now countermarched by the way we had 
come. This did not look like going into battle, but we were 
told that the enemy were retreating by their left flank and 
would pass over the ground where we had fought yesterday, 
and would likely try to follow the Benton ville road and get 
northwards towards Keatsville, and that we were going to cut 
them off" and capture their artillery and baggage trains. This 
seemed likely enough, and if the enemy had been defeated it 
Avas the only way they could retreat, and we would have a fair 
chance of at least cutting ofi' their baggage trains. We began 
to think that Van Dorn was not such a bad general after all. 

We marched along among traces of the battle and through 
several passages where the enemy had cut down trees to form 
abatis, but never came out to the Elkhorn road. We could 
not tell where we were or were being led to, but by the sun I 
thought we were making a detour; and after about two hours 
we seemed to be going to the eastwards and getting further 
away from the battlefield, and here we began to join with other 
parts of the army, and the aide-de-camp left us. 

We thought we should be up to near the KeatsviUe road by 
this time if we had been going in that direction. Lieutenant 
G. remarked to me that this looked strange; I thought so 
too. 

A battery of artillery was moving along before us, the men 



310 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



sitting on the guns, their faces blackened with powder. We 
did not know what battery it was, but away before it we saw 
other batteries and horse and foot moving slowly along. 
Lieutenant G. went away forward to see if he could gain any 
information. In a short time he came back saying, " It is now 
no use to try and say anything else about it. They may call 
it what they like, but it is a retreat, and nothing else, but don't 
say anything about it, or there will be a regular mutiny." 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

DISSATISFACTION OF THE TROOPS AT THE CONDUCT OF THE CAMPAIGN— A VISIT 
TO THE enemy's CAMP— EXCHANGE OF PKISONEBS— GROSS MISMANAGE- 
MENT—CRITICAL POSITION AND WRETCHED CONDITION OF THE ARMY- 
PRIVATION AND STARVATION— A MINIATURE MOSCOW RETREAT— ARRIVAL 
AT VAN BUREN— REORGANISING AGAIN AT FORT SMITH. 

This movement soon got to be discussed all along the line. It 
was denied that it vi^as a retreat, and it was asserted to have 
been a victory. The enemy was said to have been beaten, but 
that Yan Dorn could not wait to cut them off or pursue them, 
as he had orders to hurry with his troops to join the Army of 
the Centre, on the Mississippi, where we had been preparing to 
go when we were hurried out of winter quarters by the advance 
of the army we had just fought. It was also whispered that 
Van Dorn had fought this battle on his own responsibility and 
against orders; that his orders had been that the Western 
States were to be abandoned, and the Army of the West was 
to join the Army of the Centre at Memphis. Such were the 
arguments all along the line. 

Whatever might have been the intention it was clear enough 
that there had been a shameful piece of bungling and mis- 
management, and the discontent and clamour became general, 
and everyone was disgusted. One or two companies, which 
were composed largely of Irish, being dissatisfied at not getting 
to fight it out with the enemy, commenced to fight amongst 
themselves, and a regular melee broke out a short distance in 
front of us. The rioters were, however, pushed on by those 
behind, and not allowed to block up the way with their fight- 
ing. As we came up to the place one man was lying senseless 
by the side of the path, and another was coolly trying to 
straighten the barrel of his musket, which he had bent into 
the form of a crescent by striking the former over the head 
with it. He was now pushing the muzzle down into the 
ground and trying to bend it back again, amidst the laughter 
of our boys, who cried out, " Never mind it, Paddy ; it will 
now do to shoot round the corners." 

We at last came to a halt for the night, but our mortification 



312 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

may be imagined when we found that we were quite away 
from any road, and entirely cut off from our trains or any 
means of getting supplies, having made a circuit and fought 
round the rear of the enemy, while our supply waggons, if we 
had any on the way, must be far away on the other road with 
the enemy between us and them. Hungry as we were there 
was no possibility of getting anything to eat for this night. 
The men were told that they must make it out for another 
night, and to-morrow we would march to a place where the 
supply waggons would meet us by another road across the 
country. The men did not place much faith in the exertions 
of the commissary, but there was no help for it. They were 
also worn out with fatigue and want of sleep, and it was now 
impossible to obtain any sleep on account of the cold. The 
men had neither blankets nor overcoats, except a few they had 
picked up on the battlefield. 

The place where we bivouacked was rather a sheltered spot, 
and there was a good deal of dry grass and leaves, and I and 
a few more huddled close under a large fallen tree, beside which 
there was a good quantity of this dry grass and leaves. We 
found this rather a snug place, and free from the cold biting 
wind, and we were soon asleep. We had slept for several 
hours when, sometime after midnight, I was awakened by the 
others jumping up alarmed, and crying to get up quick, as we 
were lying among rattlesnakes ! 

We sprang up quicker than if it had been the enemy, when 
one of the boys declared that he had heard one rattle close to 
his head; and the whole bivouac was roused, seizing their 
arms, thinking we had been attacked by the enemy. 

When the cause of the alarm became known some of our 
comrades laughed at us, and said, " Who ever heard of rattle- 
snakes being abroad in such cold weather ?" But then it was 
known that they were very plentiful in this district ; and it 
was just in such places that they hid themselves in cold 
weather; and it was extremely likely that there might be 
some of them about the old tree. Nothing could induce any 
of us to lie down again, and the others beat the ground well, 
in the neighbourhood of their bivouacs. 

We stood shivering in the cold, and sleepy, and considered 
that it was too bad, after all the privations of the last few days, 
we should be put out of our humble bed by these varmints ; 
and, being still in fighting humour, we determined upon 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 313 

revenge. Accordingly dry grass and dry branches of trees 
were got, and packed all round and under the old tree and set 
fire to, determined to make the place hot for the snakes. This 
at least warmed us and gave some amusement, while the boys 
stood round with their sabres ready to slay the first snake that 
should attempt to come out. None came out — at least, that 
we saw, although it is possible some may have escaped in 
the darkness. From what we learned of the place it was 
extremely probable that such reptiles may have been there, 
and this warned us to be more careful in future when selecting 
our bivouacs. 

The alarm, however, had done us good ; we had had a feAv 
hours' sleep, and the excitement had warmed us and caused 
our blood to circulate, and we stood by the fire and smoked 
and discussed the results of the late battle until daylight. 

When daylight appeared we moved on again. There was 
no general road but rude bridle paths through the woods, and 
the country was very thinly settled, and for miles at a time 
not the slightest sign of a human habitation. How the 
artillery got along seems a mystery to me, although details 
were made to clear and make roads for them and get the 
heavy caissons over bad places. We understood that our 
march that day would not be a long one and that we should 
halt at a place where our supply waggons would meet us, and 
we would rest there a day or two and reorganise. What 
should be done after that was now the conjecture and topic of 
discussion. 

After a short march, or rather, struggle, through the rough 
country we came in the afternoon to an open space on the 
banks of a stony creek, where there was some appearance of 
the country having been inhabited and where some apologies 
for roads crossed each other. By one of these roads our supply 
waggons were expected to come, but there was not yet any 
appearance of them. However, it was allowed that they had 
scarcely time to be forward. 

Near the place where our regiment rested there were some 
buildings, including a grist mill, but the inhabitants had all 
fled, and the farm and mill were deserted. One or two pigs 
and some poultry, which seemed not to have had the sagacity 
of their OAvners, remained behind, and soon fell victims to their 
simplicity. 

The mill was of the kind driven by steam-power, and was 



314 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

apparently in working condition, and a quantity of Indian 
corn in ear lay in the building. 

A call was made for engineers to get steam up and the mill 
set agoing, and a number of men set to shell the corn off the 
husks. The mill was soon at work and a quantity of meal 
ground, and in a few hours a small supply of meal was served 
out to each man. The question now was how to cook it ; but 
necessity is the mother of inventions. The creek was a com- 
plete mass of stones, granite boulders of all sizes. The men 
selected stones of a suitable size having a flat or hollow side. 
These stones they propped up on others, with the flat or hollow 
side uppermost. In this hollow part they placed their meal, 
and with their canteens they took water from the creek and 
mixed up their meal into dough, and the banks of the creek 
abounding with dead trees they took dry wood and made fires 
under and round about the stones in order that they would 
get hot and so bake the mixture into bread. 

Along this tortuous creek for more than a mile the stream 
was lit up with this primitive system of cooking, while here 
and there pieces of the unfortunate pigs were being roasted on 
the points of sticks, the grease, by way of economy, being 
dropped on the bread, while a pinch of salt would that night 
have been worth a general's ransom. Some had devoured their 
bread when it was little more than warm through, not admitting 
their impatience, but declaring that the food was more nutri- 
tious that way ; and it was just as well for them too, for in 
the midst of their festival an alarm was got up that we were 
attacked by the enemy, and what seemed a firing was heard at 
different parts along the creek. The men immediately left 
their cooking and seized their arms, but it turned out to be a 
false alarm, and the cause of it was soon discovered. 

The large granite boulders on which they were baking their 
bread, having got heated, began to expand and burst with 
violent explosions equal to the report of a musket, and as the 
creek did not run in a straight line, but was so crooked that 
very little of it could be seen from one place, the reports were 
heard in various directions resembling a firing of musketry, 
and thus caused the alarm. As soon as the cause of alarm 
was discovered a quick rush was made back to save the bread 
which with the splitting of the stones was thrown into the 
fire and often lost or picked up in fragments from the ashes. 

This scare, like many others, caused some fun and served 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 315 

the purpose of keeping up the spirits of the men and adding 
something to their experience in the way of making bread. 
This rude and scanty allowance was soon eaten up. The mill 
was kept going till all the corn that could be procured was 
ground, so as to give something for the following day in case 
the supply waggons did not get forward. 

As we were to remain here for a day or two, the mill and 
the houses were appropriated for such as were sick or suffering 
from severe privation or over fatigue. Our company, remem- 
bering last night, determined to keep out of the company of 
rattlesnakes, and gathered dry branches, grass, and leaves, and 
made a bivouac among the stones in the bed of the creek. 
We were cautioned that the creek might rise in the night and 
flood us out or carry us away, but we preferred water to 
rattlesnakes, and determined to chance it. Fortunately the 
creek did not rise, and we got a good night's rest, and those 
who thought to have a laugh at our expense were disap- 
pointed. 

In the morning the senior captain present having tempo- 
rarily taken command of the regiment, each orderly-sergeant 
or other qualified ofiicer was ordered to send in a report of his 
company, killed, wounded, and missing, and the number 
present for duty, and number of rounds of ammunition to each. 

My report was made out so far as I knew : killed three ; 
wounded, seven ; missing, 1 3, including the captain and four 
sent to see after the wounded and missing at the place where 
we had fought on the seventh, and from whom we had no 
report. Present, one lieutenant, 31 non-commissioned officers 
and men, and two emergency men. 

It was found that the total loss the regiment had sustained 
in killed, wounded, and missing, was about 270, but some of 
those were supposed to have straggled and would yet come up. 

The emergency men were now allowed to go home, and it 
was intimated that a party was going to be sent to the enemy's 
camp under a flag of truce to negotiate for an exchange of 
prisoners. I applied to get on that party and was selected. 
The party, as near as I can recollect, consisted of one field- 
officer and two captains, with an escort of one lieutenant, two 
sergeants, and 24 privates. The latter were detailed from 
difierent companies ; of course some care had to be exer- 
cised in the selection of the men for a mission of this kind^ 
and to have them of good appearance, shrewd and discreet. 



316 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

The party was made up, arms inspected, men and equip- 
ments made to show well, and the party set out about three 
o'clock in the afternoon, intending to reach the enemy's camp 
before sunset. We found they had fallen back from their 
former position, and had taken up a position on the Keatsville 
road, nearer to the Missouri boundary line. It was near sun- 
set when we approached their picket-guard. On seeing the 
flag of truce a party came out to meet us bearing also a flag 
of truce. 

They insisted on the usual formality of bhndfolding being 
gone through as we passed into their camp. Of course we 
considered this an absurd formality in a field camp, but, as it 
was a mere form and no actual blindfolding, we acceded to 
the ceremony. By the time we got to their general head- 
quarters it was dark. 

The ofiicers were received into a marquee, where they had a 
consultation, and soon returned with the intelligence that 
negotiations could not be proceeded with that night, but that 
the truce party would be furnished with quarters and provi- 
sions for the night, and negotiations would be proceeded with 
in the morning. 

Some tents were provided for our accommodation, and our 
party on giving their parole were allowed to accept the hospi- 
tality of any mess that would invite them to sup with them. 
We had abundance of invitations, and they treated us very 
well, and we spent quite a pleasant night. 

In the morning after guard mounting the negotiations took 
place at the head-quarters of the Federal generals. The front 
of a marquee was thrown open, and there sat several officers, 
conspicuous among whom was General Siegel. 

General Siegel was a German, and had been, as we under- 
stood, an officer in the Prussian army. He spoke with a strong 
German accent, and seemed to be in remarkable good humour 
as he thus addressed our officers : — 

" Come away, gentlemen, I am very glad to see you. I 
understand you come to arrange about an exchange of 
prisoners." 

Our officer replied that he presumed that something on this 
subject had already passed between them and his superiors, 
and he had only to furnish them with a correct statement of 
what prisoners we had in our hands ; and as he supposed the 
number they had of ours was about equal, he would like to 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 31 T 

get a statement of them and their rank, that they might 
arrange for a cartel of exchange. 

A list of the prisoners they had of ours was then produced, 
and in it were found the names of Colonel Hebert, Major T., 
the captain of our company and several other officers — the 
total number being about 265. 

We had of theirs about 280, but the proportion of officers 
was rather less. We had, however, of theirs two lieutenant- 
colonels. 

Our officer now said that he found they had an officer of 
ours who exceeded him in rank, and he would prefer to trans- 
fer to him the power to negotiate with them, and arrange the 
cartel. But another officer, who I took to be General Curtis, 
replied that they could not treat with a prisoner, no matter 
what his rank might be. Our officer then proposed to arrange 
for the exchange of Colonel Hebert, and when exchanged he 
could negotiate with them. They hesitated, and, after some 
consultation, asked what we proposed to give in exchange for 
him. Our officer said he was a colonel, and they had also a 
major of ours, while we had of theirs two lieutenant-colonels, 
which he considered would be a fair exchange for a colonel and 
a major. 

General Siegel, who seemed inclined to have a joke, now 
replied : — 

" I admit that is a cartel acknowledged by the rules of war, 
but there is one other thing which you must take into considera- 
tion. You Southerners say that one Southerner can whip 
three Northerners, which means that one Southerner is worth 
three Northerners ; therefore, it will be necessary for you to 
give in exchange for your colonel three colonels, and for your 
major three majors." 

This sally of General Siegel, which he delivered with the 
utmost good humour in his German accent, caused a general 
laugh and applause, in which our officers joined, and who now 
said they would be willing to forego that distinction at present 
and be valued upon equal terms. 

After some discussion, it was agreed that the two lieutenant- 
colonels should be brought to the Federal camp immediately 
and exchanged for Colonel Hebert and Major T. ; and then a 
general exchange of prisoners would be effected, although I 
am not sure how it was carried out, as I and several of the 
escort now asked leave to go and see our friends who were 



318 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

prisoners. This would not be allowed, unless we were accom- 
panied by an officer, as no private talk would be allowed. 
Oh, certainly not, we ^vished no private talk, and would 
be glad to have their officers accompany us. We were per- 
mitted to go, several officers accompanying us. We rather 
invited them to come Avith us. The prisoners were glad to 
see us, and hear that they were likely soon to be exchanged. 
There was a good deal of laughing and joking. 

The adjutant of one of the Arkansas regiments was among 
the prisoners, and he cried out, " I hope you have got an 
adjutant to exchange for me ; " whilst another cried out, " I 
hope you have got a corporal to exchange for me ; " and one 
cried out in a joking way, " I hope you have got a private of 
the very highest class to exchange for me." 

" Oh," said one of the Federal officers, " you must come 
under Siegel's cartel, and we must have three privates in 
exchange for you," and there was a good deal of joking of this 
kind. The men said they were glad that there was a prospect 
of their being soon exchanged, although they could not com- 
plain of their treatment. 

A sergeant of one of the other companies of our regiment 
asked me when I thought they ^^ould get free. I told liim I 
did not know, but I thought it would not be long ; but, seeing 
a Federal officer close by, listening to every word, I continued 
talking seriously, and told him that he must just submit to it 
for a few days ; their treatment was not so bad after all. I 
had seen the food they were getting, and really, as prisoners, 
they could not complain of it, although, of course, it was not 
equal to the good liAdng they would have if they were with 
their regiment, but 

" Oh, stop there," cried the officer as he laughed outright, 
" that will do for you. I expect our boys will be fat when 
they come back from such high living as they T\ill be having 
among the Confeds." 

I had to laugh myself, and all around could not help joining. 
But the prisoners took the hint that they were perhaps just 
as well where they were for a few days, though, of coui'se, 
they always tried to maintain that the Confederate army was 
well supplied with provisions. 

We now prepared to take our departure, and the blind- 
folding process was again gone through, and we were con- 
ducted beyond their pickets, where we bid each other good-bye 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 319 

until the next cannon shot, and we made our way back to 
where we had left our wretched and star\'ing army on the 
pre\T.ous day. 

As we marched along we could now talk more freely of 
what we saw and thought of things in the Federal camp. All 
the others seemed to have learned and observed more than I 
did. The enemy did not appear to have regarded the issue 
of the battle as being very favourable to them ; and if as a 
victory regarded it as a very doubtful one. They could not 
account for us ^^^thdrawing from the field, and could not tell 
where we had gone, and throughout the afternoon of the 8th and 
part of the 9th they had been expecting us to attack them 
from some other point, and as soon as they found that we 
had withdra^vn from their rear they fell back to their present 
position. 

The action of Van Dorn seemed to us inexplicable, and it 
was privately thought and expressed that he had calculated 
upon Price and M'Culloch to win the battle for him, and left 
the actual conduct of the action to them; and that when 
M'Culloch and M'Intosh were killed he found the right wing 
without a leader, although not demoralized, ready and eager 
to fight ; but, instead of taking command of it himself, he left 
it standing idle, while he himself remained with Price's 
division on the left wing instead of looking over the whole 
field. 

It was his first battle, and he certainly could not handle his 
army after those whom he had expected to do it for him were 
killed. Such were the comments that were quietly whispered, 
and perhaps there was some truth in them, though of course 
they were not spoken openly. And Van Dorn had always 
plenty to blow his trumpet for him, as a man in power with 
offices and gifts at command seldom lacks abundance of friends 
and supporters. 

When we got back to the army we were mortified that no 
supplies had come, and there was now no likelihood or possi- 
bility of any coming by that road. What was now to be done ? 
was the question asked. We were to proceed to Van Buren 
across the country the best way we could. Price's army had 
already gone on before us. 

Here was a position to be in. The distance to Van Buren 
in a direct line was about 90 miles. This would have been 
nothing if there had been anything like a good road and 



320 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

tolerable weather, but to reach it we might have to traverse 
double that distance. White River and its many tributaries 
was in the way. There were no roads or bridges ; the country 
was mostly hills covered with scrub oaks, rocks, rivers, and 
creeks, and very sparsely settled, and so poor, as some of the 
men expressed it, that turkey buzzards would not fly over it ; 
and the weather had now set in worse than the dead of winter 
— cold biting winds, sleet, frost, and snow. We had no guide 
to show us the best way to get through. Price's army had 
preceded us; but if they did any good by opening a path, 
they would do us a great deal of harm by clearing the country 
of everything that could be eaten by man or beast, even to 
the last acorn, which seemed to be the only thing which the 
country produced. 

But where was the man who had brought the army into this 
wretched predicament ? Van Dorn had not been seen since 
the third day after we had left Boston Mountain to attack the 
enemy, and it was whispered that he did not want to show 
himself to the troops. Be that as it may, I must say that I 
never saw him until some two months afterwards at Corinth. 
Had he shown himself to this division of the army at this 
time, I question much whether he would have been greeted 
with enthusiastic cheers. 

But this was not our business ; we had now the march 
before us, and we must undertake it, without provisions, 
without tents or cooking utensils, without blankets or over- 
coats, and our thin clothing now worn and ragged. I have 
never seen or read either in newspaper or history any details 
of this miniature Moscow retreat. It was, perhaps, one of 
those black or blurred pages in history that is unreadable, and 
is best to be torn out. 

We proceeded to scramble along the best way we could, 
wading through creeks and rivers and scrambling over rocks 
and through brushwood. At night we kindled large fires and 
took off our wet clothes, wrung the water out of them, and dried 
them the best way we could. Occasionally we passed a small 
settlement from which the inhabitants had fled, but everything 
had been carried away by Price's army. In the gardens we 
sometimes found the remains of some turnips or onions, which 
were eagerly dug out of the ground with our sabres and eaten 
raw. Everything like military order of march was at an end, 
but the battalions and companies kept in their places, and 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 321 

discipline was still maintained, although to leave the line in 
search of something to eat could no longer be strictly forbidden. 
Several times it was found that we had taken the wrong road 
and had to turn back. Sometimes we passed through rather 
better tracts of country which had been settled, but the few 
settlers had all fled from their homes and the houses were 
deserted, and everything in the shape of food had been taken 
by Price's troops. 

One day I went into the house of a farm which seemed some- 
what of the better class. I found it deserted and completely 
gutted, and everything in the way of food within or without 
the house had been carried away, although there were indica- 
tions of plenty having been not long before. In the kitchen I 
found a pail containing some apple-parings, off which I was 
making a hearty meal, while one of our young lads was scraping 
with great energy the bottom and sides of a very large pot or 
boiler in which some Indian-meal porridge, or mush, as it is 
called, had been boiled some days before, and the cook had 
humanely omitted to clean the pot, and had left some porridge 
sticking to the sides. I looked down upon the poor boy ; his 
starved appearance and sunken eyes told how hunger and 
privation were telling upon him. 

" Well, how are you getting on, Andrew ? " said I. 

Andrew, who had now polished the inside of the pot and had 
turned his attention to the outside, where a quantity of the 
stuff had stuck by the pot boiling over, looked up. 

" Sergeant," said he, " I think there is nothing in the whole 
world so good as just cold mush off the pot. I think if I was 
to be the president of the Confederate States I would have 
plenty of cold mush." 

" Andrew," said I, " you would perhaps not then be blessed 
with such a good appetite as you have to-day — but shut that 
door quick ! " 

A tolerably good-looking fowl, which seemed to have 
escaped from the care of its owner and the tender mercies of 
Price's men, and not getting its usual food, had seen the door 
open and like ourselves sought the kitchen for something to 
eat. But a fowl's necessity is sometimes man's opportunity. 
Andrew quickly shut the door, and the fowl was a prisoner. 
Andrew looked at me, wondering if I meant to steal it after 
the many lectures I had given the boys against anything like 
plundering. 



322 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

" Yes," said I, " kill it, Andrew, 'tis a military necessity ; if 
the owner was here I would pay him for it in full, but we must 
have it. We will roast it over the camp-fire to-night, and you 
shall have a good share of it, as I see you are not out of the 
need of it." 

The fowl was soon killed, stripped of its feathers, and 
cleaned to make it lighter to carry, and we started off with 
our prize. We had been somewhat in advance of the company, 
and we just joined them as they came up. Lieutenant G. said 
that as we had been so fortunate there might be something 
more to be got, as the country here seemed to be much richer 
than what we had been passing through for the last three days, 
and showed some signs of cultivation. He suggested that 
three or four men should start off on a tour to forage for the 
whole company. 

Four were immediately sent off to get food, " honestly if they 
could, but at all events to get it." All these sent were known 
to be good foragers, and if anything existed at all in the 
country, they would not come in empty. This was now the 
fourth day since we left the stony creek, and the men had 
tasted nothing but pieces of raw turnips, onions, and hard, dry 
Indian corn. 

This came on a wretched day, sleet falling which froze as it 
fell, and every branch and twig was coated with ice, and our 
rags were frozen stiff about us. 

At last we halted for the night, but we had much difficulty 
in getting fires started owing to everything being wet and 
coated with ice. Our officers always studied to make the halt 
for the night where there was plenty of old fence rails or other 
good firewood, and there was plenty here, and the fires, once 
started, were easily kept up, 

Andrew now produced his fowl, which I chopped in pieces 
with my sabre, giving him a good piece for his share, and 
giving some of the weaker-looking boys a piece, which they 
stuck on the end of a pointed stick and roasted over the fire. 
We now anxiously awaited the return of our foraging party, 
a,nd they came in about an hour after we halted. They did 
not come in empty. Their arrival caused both joy and laugh- 
ter. It never rains but it pours. They were actually loaded 
down. One carried two geese, a turkey, a fowl, and a piece 
of bacon ; another had a young pig and a bag filled with 
turnips and potatoes, and a haversack full of salt ; the other 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 323 

two carried on two sticks a large boiler which would hold 
<ibout 50 or 60 gallons, which they had found in the woods, 
where it had been used for boiling maple sugar or sorgho. 

The boiler was set up on stones, water put into it and fire 
put under it, and the work of cleaning the pig, geese, and 
fowls was quickly gone through, and they, with the bacon, 
turnips, potatoes, and onions, were cut up and tumbled in, 
with salt sufficient. 

What a splendid mess they were going to have ! Each man 
generally carried a spoon in his pocket, and they began to sup 
the broth before it had been boiling many minutes. The snow 
kept falling, but they did not care ; they were now happy, and, 
as usual, gloom and despondency were quickly turned into joy 
and merriment. They invited some men from the other com- 
panies to dine with them. They packed the wood on the fire, 
the cauldron bubbled, and they sung songs and danced round 
it like the witches in " Macbeth." 

" Hallo ! what is all this noise about 1 " cried a voice coming 
up out of the darkness. 

" Come away, captain," cried a number of voices, as we 
recognised Captain R., of the artillery. " Come away and 
dine with us, captain. Have you got a spoon in your pocket?" 

" Ah, that I have, and I will dine with you, too. What is 
this you have got ? " 

" Oh, everything, captain — geese, turkeys, pig, fowl, turnips, 
potatoes — a regular stew." 

" Good gracious ! where on earth did you get that big 
kettle?" 

" Out in the woods, at a sorgho mill." 

"And how did you get it here ? " 

" Carried it in." 

" You are the boys," said the captain ; " but that stew is 
splendid, and I have had a hard day's work. I have got all 
my pieces forward." 

" Caissons and all ? " 

" Caissons and all," said the captain, " and two extra pieces, 
but I had to leave two behind." 

" Had you to leave two of your guns behind ? " 

" Not two of my own guns," said the captain ; " but I 
brought away four pieces belonging to the enemy, and I had 
to leave two of them behind near the stony creek ; the roads 
were too bad to take them along." 



324 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

" How did you come to get four of the enemy's guns ? " 

" I can't tell ; I came across them abandoned as I was 
coming away, and I tailed them on, but found them too much 
to bring along, and had to cast off two of them, but the enemy 
will never get them ; I put them where they won't find them." 

" Did Price lose any of his guns ? " 

" I don't think so." 

" Then we have lost no guns at all 1 " 

" No ; we have gained two." 

"And six that were burned and two that we spiked," said 
we ; " that will make 12 guns that the enemy has lost." 

" Of course these two guns may be unspiked," said the 
captain, " but the six that were burned will have to be 
remounted, and likely require to be rebored or recast 
altogether." 

" Then they must have had 12 guns that were hors de combat 
when we withdrew from the field. What do you think of this 
whole affair, captain ? " 

" Oh, don't mention it ; I don't understand it at all. But I 
must away, and thank you for this splendid supper ; it is the 
best I have had since we came out of winter quarters ; " and 
he took his leave and went to join his corps. 

The men hung round the fire and smoked ; but to get any 
sleep was impossible ; the sleet still fell, and they had to keep 
themselves from freezing. 

All were glad when morning came, and we moved on again. 
The remains of the stew, being now boiled into a consistency 
like glue, the men put into their haversacks, while the grease 
came through and draggled them so much that some remarked 
that, if again reduced to a strait, they might boil their clothes 
and get good soup out of them. 

It was well for us that we had got that one meal and some 
of the stew in our haversacks, for the whole of the next three 
days we passed through a wild, barren country where there 
was not a thing to be had in the way of food. The 1st brigade 
and the artillery having now parted off and gone by some 
other and longer route where they could obtain forage, it 
began to appear that we had gone in a wrong direction, and 
had to turn back on account of some river which we could not 
cross, and we lost about two days' march. 

About the seventh night we halted on the sloping banks of 
a creek which ran at the bottom of a pretty deep valley. On 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 325 

the near side of the creek there was abundance of dry grass, 
making a fine place to bivouac ; and, what was better, the 
weather had suddenly changed, and the afternoon and evening 
were warm and sultry. We expected to get some sleep to-night 
if the pangs of hunger would allow us. How the other com- 
panies were faring we were not sure, but supposed they had 
just their little chances same as ourselves. 

NotAvithstanding the wretchedness of our condition, there 
was throughout the whole of this trying campaign still kept 
up a continual animation by light merry-making. Joking was 
always the order of the day. The most disagreeable and try- 
ing privations were alleviated and smoothed over by turning 
them into a cause for laughter. If some became sullen and 
desponding, there were always some spirits who could by some 
comical expressions raise the merry laugh and incite good 
humour, and put animation into the men. At this mood 
Lieutenant G. was a perfect adept, and could excite mirth in 
the most trying circumstances. 

When we came to a halt this evening things looked bad 
enough in the way of hunger. The men had a little dry 
Indian corn in their haversacks, which alone they had been 
chewing for the last two days. Nothing had been picked up 
on this day's march, and there was no chance of anything to 
eat for this night, and the joke was had recourse to again. 
This time it was to select the fattest man in the company to 
feed the rest upon, and a good deal of fun was being indulged 
in about who should be sacrificed, when temporary relief came 
from an unexpected quarter. 

About sunset a stranger on horseback came along enquiring 
for the rifle company of the 3rd Louisiana regiment. Who 
could it be 1 He came up and enquired for a young man who 
had joined us at Fayetteville while we were in mnter quarters. 
The young man was still with us and all right. This was his 
father, and he was glad to find his son all right ; but he had 
heard of the wretched state of starvation the army was in, and 
he had prepared two good large bags of wheaten hoe cake, 
and laying them across his horse's back, he sought out the 
army. He had been three days looking for the regiment 
before he got to us, and he handed the bread to his son. The 
lad took out about a day's ration for himself, and handed the 
bread back to his father to divide among the company. This 
was divided over the company with the greatest care and 



326 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

exactitude, being about half a pound to each man. Never 
was a morsel higher prized ; for of all tilings for sustaining 
strength on a long march, I think there is nothing equal to 
unleavened wheaten bread. And if ever a sincere benediction 
was bestowed upon a man, it was bestowed upon that old man 
that night. 

It had now out of necessity become a question to be con- 
sidered by us, as to how the little food we could pick up could 
be best appHed, so as not merely to appease the cra\-ings of 
hunger, but to sustain strength and enable us to reach the end 
of our journey. 

Some thought it was best to be taken before lying do^Ti at 
night, as the cravings of hunger would not prevent sleep, and 
while it was being digested, the body was both strengthened 
and refreshed. Others thought it was objectionable to start 
on a journey with an empty stomach — especially as we had 
always been accustomed to take breakfast before proceeding on 
a march, and by doing that the body was fortified and 
streng-thened for the day's toil. 

I resolved to try the latter method, and reserve my bread 
for the foUowng morning. So I put it under the breast of my 
coat, buttoned it up, and ha\dng selected a comfortable place 
among the dry grass, which we now always took care to beat 
well from fear of rattlesnakes, I felt sure, from the warmness 
of the night, to get a good night's rest. 

Overpowered with fatigue, sleep and hunger fought for the 
mastery. I was asleep, but that piece of bread stood before 
me, and I was trpng to grasp it. Banquets of the finest food 
were before me, but somehow I could not reach them. 

I found it was no use. I thought I was just wasting the 
only mild night in which a little sleep might be got. So I 
rose up, took my piece of bread, broke off about two-thirds of 
it, lea^dng a small piece for the morning, and ate it as I 
thought, in the most judicious and economical way — licking 
the flour with which it was coated ofi" my black and dirty 
hands. I then took a drink of water from my canteen, and a 
smoke, and lay down again, and I was soon into a sweet sleep. 

I must have slept about four or five hours, when I was 
awakened by the rain pouring down in torrents, and a tremen- 
dous thunderstorm, and I heard loud laughter, and shouts of 
" Stand and take it." Stand and take it, indeed, was the only 
thing we could do; anything like shelter was out of the question. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 327 

The camp fires were soon put out, and the water ran down the 
sloping banks of the creek so deep that many of us had to get 
up to the high ground at the top. Strange to say, plenty of 
the men slept on, with the terrible rain pouring on them, and 
we were stumbling over them as we made our way up to the 
high ground, picking our way by the aid of the lightning. 

The storm continued for about two hours, when it ceased, 
and the men tried to light fires again to dry their clothes, but 
found it impossible ; everything was wet, and before any fire 
could be started, daylight had broken, which gave great 
relief, as we longed to resume the march. 

I may say that the marching during the day was by far the 
pleasantest part of it, for to pass the nights when it was too 
wet or cold to sleep was exceedingly trying. 

When daylight came, and we were about to proceed on our 
march, we found we were in something of a fix. 

Our line of march was across the creek, and we had not followed 
the rules, which was that a creek should always be crossed and 
the troops to bivouac on the far side. This rule had been 
departed from at this time, because on the far side of the creek 
there was not for some distance any suitable place for bivouac- 
ing, besides creeks here were so plentiful, and had to be crossed 
so often, that if we got on the far side we were not far from 
the near side of another. However, in this case the meaning 
or object of the rule was very well demonstrated. 

The creek, by the sudden storm, was swollen to a great 
extent, so that it was impossible to cross, and we could not 
proceed ; and if the enemy had been harassing our rear we 
would have been in the same position as the Israelites at the 
Red Sea. What was now to be done 1 No other route was 
possible; we were pressed by starvation, and no food was to 
be obtained in the neighbourhood. It would be at least two 
days before the creek was passable, and if more rain fell it was 
quite uncertain when we might get across. There was only 
the remnant or wreck of the 2nd brigade here, but who was in 
command of it, or whether it had any commander, we did not 
know, every regiment seeming to act for itself, and every com- 
pany to act for itself. 

After a consultation among the officers of our regiment, it 
was agreed that the regiment should separate and each com- 
pany act for itself, and get along the best way they could to 
Van Buren, and there join again. 



328 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Each company then started to shift for itself as they best 
could. The novelty of the thing was pleasing, as they were now 
comparatively free. Our company, amounting in the aggregate 
to 32, proceeded by itself. We had two axes which we carried 
along for cutting wood for fires, etc., but that was all the com- 
pany property we had beyond our arms. We proceeded along 
the creek to see if there was any possibility of finding a place 
where we might effect a crossing by felling trees so as to fall 
across it. 

We had some splendid fellows for such an emergency, who 
could handle the axe as well as the rifle, one of whom we 
called Canada, as he was a native of that country. 

Some gigantic trees grew along the edge of the creek in 
some places, and soon one of them fell across the stream, but 
it went whirling away with the roaring torrent as if it had 
been chips. Another and another was cut, but all were 
carried away. 

At length we came to a place where the creek was narrow 
and the banks high, but there did not seem to be any tree 
large enough and sufficiently near the bank to fall across, and 
at this narrow part all were eagerly looking for a tree that 
would, if felled, span the creek. 

" Here, sergeant ! here, sergeant," cried Tim D., in great 
ecstasy, " here is a fine one." 

I hastened to where he was. " Where is it 1 " said I. 

" Over yonder," said he, pointing to a tree on the opposite 
side of the creek, "if we could only manage to get over to 
cut it." 

" You confounded fool," said I, " if we could only manage 
to get over to it, it would be of no use to us, because we would 
not want it." 

" What is that ?" cried some one. 

" Oh, it is one of Tim's bulls," said I. " He proposes that 
we cross the river first, and then cut a tree on the other side." 

" Throw him in the river ! " cried two or three of the boys. 

" Well, now, that was not what I said at all," cried Tim. 
" I said. There is a fine tree over there, and if some of yees 
would go over and cut it, we would all get over ; and if you 
would just come and see the tree, you would say yourself that it 
was a splendid one." 

" Then, go over and cut it ;" cried two or three of the boys. 

At that time Lieutenant G. and Canada, the axe-man, came 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 329 

up ; we looked across at the tree and pondered. "Well, certainly, 
if any one was on that side to cut that tree it would just fall 
across and make a splendid bridge. I wonder if there could 
be no means of getting one man across to cut it," 

There was a place a little farther down, where the stream 
ran through a narrow chasm, where the banks were high on 
each side, and not quite 30 feet from bank to bank, but there 
were no trees near the place. It was suggested that we might 
get one of the tall ash trees, which grew higher up the bank, 
and carry it down, and raise it on end and let it fall across, 
and if it did not break it would be strong enough for some 
active fellow to straddle over upon, and then we could throw 
him over the axe to cut the tree. 

" The very thing ! " cried Canada, " and I will volunteer to 
cross on it." And he was off at once to select a suitable ash 
tree. 

One was soon cut down and trimmed, and all hands carried 
it to the place, and a hole was dug in the ground with our 
sabres to put the thick end into, while the men got about it, 
and with the aid of long forked sticks got it raised to the 
perpendicular ; and it was thrown across, and landed success- 
fully on the other side. 

The roaring torrent below looked rather trying to the nerves. 

" Here, Tim," cried some of the boys, " go over now and 
cut the tree." 

Tim said he would go, but, as he was no axe-man, he could 
not cut the tree. 

" Then stand aside, you useless bog-trotter." 

The end of the tree was firmly bedded, and held tight to 
keep it from rolling, while Canada straddled across, like 
Blondin, crossing Niagara Falls on the tight rope. He landed 
safely on the other side, amidst the cheers of the boys ; while 
another immediately crossed after him, and we threw them 
over the two axes. Of course, they cried back in a joke, pre- 
tending to bid us goodbye, as they were going to proceed on 
and leave us, but we could not hear them for the roaring of 
the torrent. 

They both set to work with a .will and the tree, a very large 
one, soon fell across the creek, forming an excellent bridge, 
and in a few minutes all had scrambled over. 

We ascended the banks on the opposite side, where we 
looked back and saw some of the other companies along on the 



330 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

banks, vainly searching for a place to cross. "We gave a loud 
cheer to attract their attention. There was soon a commotion 
among them, and a cry of — " Hilloa, the rifles are over ! " 

We pointed in the direction of where we had crossed, that 
they might see our bridge and make use of it, and we pro- 
ceeded on our way. 

" Now, don't yees see," said Tim D., " that I was right after 
all ; you talk about bulls and bog-trotters, but if it had not 
been for me you would all have been left behind." 

'' Why, what did you do ? " 

" Well, it was my tree that was the right tree, and if it had 
not been the right tree you might all have been drowned in 
the river, and then you would have said that I had been right." 

The boys laughed, but Tim did not see what they were 
laughing at. Tim's good nature and simplicity made him 
always a favourite, and the boys liked to joke with him. 

The place where we crossed was away from any road or 
track, and we found ourselves in a tangled wood without any 
knowledge of where we were or which was the proper direction 
to take. The day was dark and cloudy, and we could not tell 
east from west. The wood was so tangled that we had to cut 
our way with our sabres. At length we came to a kind of 
road, which we followed for some distance to a place where it 
branched off in a fork, but we did not know which road to 
take ; both were about alike. We here held a consultation 
about what was best to be done, and it was arranged to divide 
the company into two sections — Lieutenant G. to take the 
one half and I should take the other half, and search the 
country for food. 

We therefore separated, taking 15 men each, and branched 
ojff in the different roads. 

With such a small party I conceived it would not be difficult 
to pick up sufficient food to sustain us until we got to Yan 
Buren; but, as we were so much reduced by want, it was 
necessary to get some relief as soon as possible. 

We seemed to have got off the route taken by Price's army, 
as everything seemed in its wild state, and no appearance of 
an army having passed, but still no appearance of any 
inhabitants. 

At length we came to some signs of cultivation, and saw a 
farm-house at a distance, indicating by smoke from the chimney 
that it was inhabited. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 331 

As we went towards the house a woman appeared at the 
door, the expression of whose face showed that we were any- 
thing but welcome. I left my party outside of the fence and 
went up to the door and began to represent our condition ; 
but she stopped me short and said that she had not a morsel 
for herself or family, that Price's army had taken everything 
she had. I rather doubted this, as I saw no traces of an army 
in the neighbourhood, and I asked her where Price's army was, 
as we were following it and had lost the road. She said the 
army did not pass this way, but a party of horsemen came and 
cleaned off everything she had. 

" They would pay you in paper money, I suppose," said I. 

" O yes," said she ; " they gave me some paper money, but I 
can't do anything with it." 

I knew that Confederate scrip was already at a great dis- 
count, and the country people did not want to take it, but 
they dare not refuse it, and I said that I wished to pay for 
anything I could get for my starving men, but I would pay in 
coin and not ask her to take paper money, and I produced 
some small gold pieces, which I showed her ; but I said if she 
could not provide me with anything we would pass on and not 
trouble her. 

The sight of the gold pieces had a wonderful effect upon her. 
She pitied the poor men and asked how many were of them. 
I told her 15. She said she was just making a baking of corn- 
bread to replace what Price's men had carried away, and in a 
few minutes it would be ready. 

A bargain was soon struck and we were shown into an 
empty barn, which, she said. Price's army had denuded of its 
contents, and in a few minutes she brought in a large tray 
heaped with hot corn-bread and a large pitcher of milk. 
Nothing could have been more delicious, and it is no use 
saying how the men enjoyed it while she prepared more. 

Having made a most hearty repast, and another batch of 
corn-bread being ready, the men put this into their haversacks, 
and I handed her a 2J dollar gold piece, and asked if that 
would do. With this she was so highly pleased that she ran 
and got another pitcher of milk, and filled our canteens with it. 

I then asked for the road which led to Van Buren. She 
said we were a good long way from that road, but her husband, 
who now made his appearance, said he would go with us, and 
show us a road that would lead us to it. 



332 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

He accompanied us about a mile and put us on to a rough 
narrow road, by which he said we would get to the Yan Buren 
road, near the foot of the mountain, but it was about five 
miles distant. 

We were now in much better condition, ha^dng had some- 
thing to eat and something in our haversacks, and, although 
we knew from experience that corn-bread did not possess the 
same strength-sustaining quahties as wheaten-bread, yet it was 
a great relief, and we were thankful for it, and we proceeded 
with more spirit and vigour. 

Not long after this, three horsemen came riding up behind 
us, who I could see to be cavalry officers. One of them called 
out to us to halt. We did not halt, and they rode up to us. 
I turned round and asked what they wanted. 

" I want to know what corps you belong to." 

" We belong to the 3rd Louisiana regiment." 

"And what are you doing here?" 

" Making our way to Van Buren." 

" And why are you away from your regiment 1 " 

"Because the regiment was hemmed in this morning by 
a river and could not get across; they were in starvation 
for want of provisions, and the companies were ordered to 
separate, and each try to get to Yan Buren the best way 
they could." 

" I understood supplies reached your regiment yesterday 1 " 

" No, nothing like it." 

" How did you get over the river ? " 

" Crawled over on a tree." 

" Well, you are are away ahead of your regiment ; go back 
and join it." 

"I tell you the regiment don't exist, it is separated into 
companies, and they are gone in different directions, and I 
can't tell where they are." 

" Is that all your company ? " 

" No, it is only half of it." 

" Where is the other half ? " 

" In charge of the third lieutenant, and by his orders the 
company divided and took different roads in order to find 
something for the men to eat." 

"Oh, that is it," said he, " then I order you back to your 
regiment, it is away behind." 

" Well, I refuse ! " 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDEKATE ARMY. 333 

"You refuse, do you?" 

" I do refuse." 

" Do yOu know who I am 1 " 

" No, but I see by your uniform that you bear the rank of 
a Confederate colonel, and that is enough for me, but I refuse, 
and will stand the consequences." 

" Then I order you under arrest." 

"All right!" 

" I see you are an orderly sergeant ; what is the name of 
your company ? " 

" Company K — the rifle company." 

He made no reply, but turned to go. 

"Stay," said I, "you have put me under arrest, you must 
take my arms, but before I deliver them to you, you will 
please tell me who you are, and by whose orders I am put 
under arrest." 

" I am Colonel Churchhill, commanding the brigade," said 
he. 

" Excuse me," said I, " but I thought Churchhill was of the 
1st brigade ? " 

" Yes," said he, " but commanding both brigades at present." 

I handed him the rifle which I carried, and as I was 
unbuckling my sabre belt, I said I had not recognised him, 
and if I had known it was Churchhill, I might have been a 
little more civil, but I thought it was some of Price's cow- 
footed colonels. 

The other officers laughed, saying, " How do you take that 
compliment, colonel?" 

" Oh, never mind your sabre," said he. 

" Oh yes," said I, "if I am under arrest I will carry no 
arms." 

He hung the sabre on the pommel of his saddle, and was 
going away. 

" Stay," said I again ; " you are leaving these men ^vithout 
an officer. Who do you appoint to command them 1 " 

" Let them go and report to their captain," said he. 

" Then they must go to the enemy's camp to do that." 

" Is your captain a prisoner 1 " 

"Yes." 

" Then report to the lieutenant commanding." 

" They will do so at Van Buren," said I, "as that is the 
first place that it will be possible to find him." 



334 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

He looked puzzled for a moment, then said, "Very well," 
and rode on. 

The boys laughed, and I was pleased to be relieved from 
duty, but the boys begged me to lead them all the same, 
which I of course said I would do. We now^ considered we 
were free to a greater extent than ever, and we might have 
roamed at will for a few days if there had been any induce- 
ment to do so. We were also glad to be relieved of some 
arms and accoutrements, which were becoming heavy to some 
of the weaker lads in toiling through the rough country, and 
we would now have one man light, who might carry along any- 
thing we might secure in the way of food ; and I took the rifle 
and sabre from one of the boys, who I saw was getting very 
weak, and he walked along lighter, and said that Churchhill had 
done a good thing for him anyway. 

As we walked along we talked of the incident, and Sergeant 
L., the fourth duty-sergeant who was with us, thought I had 
been a little pert in demanding from Churchhill his name and 
authority, and wondered that he had given it so readily, con- 
sidering the great difference in rank. I told him that I 
considered that it was my duty to do so, and it was his duty to 
satisfy me ; and that as he, as fourth sergeant of the company, 
would now be supposed to be in command of the party, I 
thought it was proper that he should know that, isolated as we 
were in a wild country and the enemy near. 

"I don't understand you," said he; "suppose they had 
refused to say who they were ? " 

" Then I consider," said I, " it would have been my duty to 
have made prisoners of them, and might have ordered you to 
cover them with your rifles and ordered them to dismount and 
surrender." 

" I wish you had, sergeant," said one of the boys, " I would 
have got one of their horses to ride to Van Buren." 

"Would not that have been rather a high-handed act ? " 
said one of the men thoughtfully, " seing they were Confederate 
officers in uniform." 

" Their uniforms were not very well defined," said I, " and 
I have no doubt there are men riding about this country 
similarly dressed who are not Confederate officers, and I was 
perhaps wrong in not demanding to know who they w^ere and 
being satisfied with it before I answered them a single question, 
considering the wild and lonely place where they met us. Of 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 335 

course I was pretty certain they were all right, but they might 
have been Federal spies dressed as Confederate officers, and 
after having told them what I had about the state of the regi- 
ment, it would never have done to let them go without knowing 
who they were." 

" Would you have let them go without asking who they 
were if they had not ordered you under arrest?" 

" Certainly not ; I would have done very wrong if I had, 
and might have been court-martialed for it. I saw my error ; 
I had answered the questions out of courtesy, or rather without 
thinking, but had determined to know them better before they 
got away. I might, however, have recognised Churchhill, as I 
had seen him several times before." 

"Then," said Sergeant L., " should we be accosted by any 
other party in the same way, will I demand to know who they 
are before I answer them any questions ? " 

" Well, if in the same way, and far from any other force, I 
think you should ; or, if you answer any questions, don't let 
them away without knowing who they are." 

" Well," said he, "you keep the command and talk to them 
yourself, I don't want anything to do with it." 

It was now near dark and we turned into a sort of by-road, 
thinking we might come to a farm where we might find some 
place to rest for the night. It was not long until we found 
we were approaching a settlement of some kind, for we came 
to a cattle-pen in which we saw a family of fine young pigs. 
One of these must be secured, and not wishing to raise any 
alarm by firing, we shut the gate of the pen, leaving a narrow 
space for the pigs to pass out, where one stood with a sabre 
while the others chased the pigs through the narrow pass. A 
blow of the sabre nearly severed the head of one from the body, 
and it fell without a squeal. While we looked for a place to 
clean and dress it, I observed the house at some distance, and 
the surroundings showed the farm to be a substantial one, and 
I saw lights, showing that the inhabitants were moving about. 
I thought that perhaps the best way after all would be to go 
up to the house, tell the farmer what we had done, and pay 
him for his pig, and perhaps he would allow us to sleep for the 
night in some barn or outhouse. 

I went up and saw the farmer, told him what we had done, 
and ofiered to pay him for the pig. He said we were more 
honest than some of the troops that had passed ; but he would 



336 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

not take any payment for the pig, and he allowed us to sleep 
in a large hay-loft over his stables, where he said we would be 
warmer than in a barn, cautioning us to take care of fire. 

We kindled a large fire, dried our clothes, which were still 
wet from last night's drenching and to-day's scrambling through 
the wet bushes, roasted our pig, and with our stock of corn- 
bread made a hearty supper, and put the rest into our haver- 
sacks. We then went to the hay-loft, which was warm from 
the breath of the horses underneath, and we had an excellent 
night's rest. 

In the morning our host told us that three or four nights 
previous our general, Van Dorn, and his staff" occupied the 
same quarters. He said they put their horses in the stable 
and then went up to the hay-loft, where they drank whisky 
and played cards the whole night. He did not seem to have 
a very high opinion of the general and his crowd, as he called 
them, and in truth neither had I, but I said nothing, and we 
moved on considerably refreshed and invigorated. 

This day we crossed Boston Mountain, but I do not think 
it was by the same road that we crossed it in July, though we 
were not sure, it now being winter and the face of the country 
very much altered. 

I must not omit to say that while crossing the mountain 
this day, we were sitting down taking a rest in the wood a 
little way from the road, when one of the boys, pointing 
towards the road, cried out, " There is Napoleon crossing the 
Alps." I looked out and observed a tall, stately figure, with 
a musket on his shoulder, marching all alone with a firm, 
quick step and soldierly bearing. 

There was something so noble and martial-like in his appear- 
ance that I determined to see who he was. I ran out and 
called on him to halt. He turned quickly round, and I recog- 
nized our old friend Monsieur Challon of the Iberville Grays. 
He was astonished, and glad to meet us. He had got parted 
from his company by some means, and thought they were on 
before, and he was hastening on to overtake them. He was 
much pleased when I told him that I was certain they were 
still behind, and he came and joined us. I was astonished to 
see the old man so vigorous, and we walked on together. I 
asked him what had become of his friend and fellow-traveller, 
Jason. " Oh, that is the donkee," he said. He said he had 
left him behind when we left winter quarters, and he had not 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 337 

seen him since. He was very sorry that he had not been with 
them on this retreat, as he would have been most invaluable, 
and he would just have liked to have an opportunity of putting 
in practice a cherished idea of his own, that donkeys could be 
used with great advantage in warfare. He had, he said, 
crossed the dry, sterile plains of New Mexico and Colorado 
with his donkey, where no other animal could have travelled. 
A donkey, he said, with panniers, could carry easily 150 lbs. 
They could go anywhere where a man could go ; they could 
be lifted over walls or fences, and could swim rivers ; they 
required no care, but little water, they did not always need 
grass, but could live on thistles, cactuses, or anything green, 
which at the same time served them for water. In some parts 
of the world they were to be had in thousands, and he thought 
that a thousand or so of them attached to an army marching 
over a barren country would be most invaluable for carrying 
water, provisions, or baggage, and he wondered that the 
English had never adopted or tried the system. 

Of course I did not know much about donkeys ; but if they 
were as he described, I certainly thought there might be some- 
thing in the idea, though I felt a little amused at the idea of a 
thousand or two of donkeys marching with an army. " But," 
said I, " looking at the management of this campaign, don't 
you think that there have been sufficient donkeys connected 
with it?" 

" Oh yes," said he ; " but dem is de two-footed donkee." 

We passed the night in an old fodder shed, on the south side 
of the mountain, where we supped off the remains of the roast 
pig and corn-bread we had saved from the previous day ; but 
we had picked up nothing in the way of provision that day. 

In the morning we moved on again. Monsieur Challon 
deciding to remain here until his company came up. 

There was now a great change in the weather. Of course it 
was getting well on in March, but I again observed a marked 
difference of the climate on the north and south sides of the 
mountain. We seemed to have come at once into spring ; the 
buds were opening; the birds were singing, and there was 
quite a pleasant change in the atmosphere. This also brought 
up a still more pleasing reflection; that our time of service was 
drawing to a close, and the boys were speculating upon what 
they were going to do when their time was out. 

We now got on to the regular road, and the track of an 

Y 



338 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

army was now only too plainly visible — every house was 
deserted, and everything in the shape of food or forage was 
carried away, and a good deal of property seemed to have 
been wantonly destroyed. 

We saw some stragglers on the road before us, and we 
hastened to overtake them, thinking that they might be a 
part of our regiment, or perhaps Lieutenant G.'s party. When 
we overtook them we found them to be mostly of our regiment, 
but not more than a dozen in all, and among them were two of 
our company, from Lieutenant G.'s party. 

Upon inquiring how it was with the party, and why they 
were separated from it, they said that Lieutenant G. had heard 
something about some of the missing from our company, and 
that our 2nd lieutenant, B., was lying very ill somewhere, and 
some others were also in distress, and he was going to try 
to render them assistance ; and that he had told these two 
to go and see if they could meet with our party, and tell us 
not to wait for them, but to push on to Van Buren, 

The effects of an army passing over a country distracted by 
war were now clearly to be seen. Be that army friend or foe, 
it passes along like a withering scourge, leaving only ruin and 
desolation behind. 

We found it needless to attempt to procure anything like 
food on the way, and it was only a loss of time and strength 
going off the road to look for it. We therefore resolved to 
push on and reach Van Buren as soon as possible, as the road 
was now plain before us. 

At length we drew near to the place. The poor fellows were 
brightened up with hope, but they were in a sorry plight. 
They were actually staggering from want and fatigue. Their 
shoes were worn off their feet, from passing over rocks and 
boulders, and through creeks. Their clothes were in rags from 
scrambling through the woods and briars, and burnt in holes 
from crouching too close to the camp fires in their broken 
slumbers. Their eyes were bleared and bloodshot, from want 
of sleep and the smoke of the wood-fires, and their bodies 
were emaciated by hunger. But now their dif&culties were 
overcome, and their privations supposed to be at an end for 
the time at least. 

It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when we entered 
Van Buren. The place was nearly deserted, every house and 
shop were shut up, nothing was to be seen but army waggons 



I 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 339 

lying about in disorder. Very few of our brigade had arrived 
and they were rendezvousing at a place about two miles below 
the town near the river. 

Some teamsters were hanging about, and I inquired of them 
for the commissary department. I was directed to a large 
corner building, which had been a provision warehouse, owned 
by a private firm, but had been seized by the commissary, as a 
matter of convenience. I at once proceeded there. 

It was a large store, well stocked with provisions. A 
commissary clerk, in a half-dazed state, was sitting with some 
of his friends near the stove. 

I went and stated our case, and requested rations for a 
party of 18 men, a part of the 3rd Louisiana regiment. 

He said he had no orders to issue rations to us, and could 
not do it, unless I brought a written order from the post 
commissary ; besides, it was past the hour for issuing rations, 
and he was not going to begin to do so to anybody. 

It was in vain that I represented our case and remonstrated 
with him ; he would not move. I then asked him who was 
post commissary and where I would find him. He gave me 
his name and said I would find him at the hotel. In the name 
I recognised one of those political agitators who had been 
active in bringing about the secession movement and who had 
now got as his share of the spoil a safe, easy, and lucrative 
post, where he would be away from any danger and where he 
might plunder at will. " But," continued the clerk in a sig- 
nificant tone, " you may save yourself the trouble of going, for 
I know he won't give it." 

If ever a devil arose in a man I think one arose within me 
at that time, and I do not know what length my rage would 
have carried me, when Canada, who was my right-hand man, 
pulled me away and advised me to be calm, reminding me that 
I was already under arrest for being a little too sharp. 

We . left the store and went out to the street, where we 
stood, not knowing very well what to do. 

Just then two officers came up — one of them with his arm 
in a sling, whom I recognised as Lieutenant M. of our regiment. 
He had been wounded on the first day of the fighting and had 
got back by the same route as we had advanced. He inquired 
about the regiment, and when I told him the condition we 
were in, he said it would be of no use to go to the post com- 
missary, for by this time of the day he would be so drunk that 



340 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

he would not know a pen from a pitchfork. " But," continued 
he, " if I was in your place I would not want rations for one 
moment ; you are in a starving condition ; you are entitled to 
them ; the provisions are there, and you have an armed force." 

I quickly took the hint, ordered the men to " Shoulder arms," 
and marched them up to the commissary's store and called to 
the clerk in charge to attend. 

" Have you brought a requisition 1 " said he. 

" Yes," said I, "in the shape of an armed force," and I 
ordered him to take a note of what stores we took. 

The clerk, who did not seem to care much what we did if it 
did not give him any trouble, refused to take any part in the 
matter. 

After witnessing his refusal, I detailed six of the men to 
take what stores were necessary for their immediate wants. 
" But remember," said I, " nothing more than what is actually 
necessary for your immediate relief." 

" All right, sergeant," was the reply, and the men proceeded 
to help themselves. 

A barrel of good biscuit was found, from which a bag was 
filled. A good supply of coffee and sugar was got, and two of 
the best hams they could find, with some small articles, includ- 
ing soap, of which we stood much in need, until the six men 
had as much as they could stagger under, which, as soon as 
they got away from the store, was distributed more generally 
over the whole party, and we made our way down to where 
the troops were rendezvousing. 

Here had arrived, and were still coming in, the quarter- 
master's waggons with the baggage of the campaign as it had 
been left at the different places — arms, tents, spades, axes, 
pick-axes, cooking utensils, and other camp equipage, with 
blankets and overcoats that had been thrown off and left 
behind, all tumbled together in waggons or lying on the 
ground in confused heaps, without anyone to take charge of 
them, and left the prey of the first that came along. 

We considered we were fortunate in being here before the 
main body of the army, and we quickly set about picking out 
what things we could find that had belonged to us, and also 
what other things the company stood in need of, as we knew 
they would be picked up by those who could first secure them. 
We were not sure whether Price's army was here or if it had 
gone on down the river. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 341 

We secured some tents and blankets, some cooking utensils, 
and other camp equipage, and I was fortunate enough to find 
my overcoat, the same that I had thrown off on the 7th when 
the order was given for the 2nd brigade to strip for battle, 
with some things in the pockets just as I had thrown it off. 

We selected a good place for camping, pitched what tents 
we needed for ourselves, and stowed in them some for the 
other part of the company when it came up, and also some 
blankets and cooking utensils, and, having partaken of a good 
supper, we retired to rest, and had at last one good night's 



In the morning, there being yet no reveille or camp regu- 
lations, one of the first things was to use the soap which we 
had taken from the commissary and go to the Arkansas river 
and thoroughly wash our blankets and clothing and our 
bodies, which were completely ingrained with dirt and smoke. 
This was a matter of considerable labour, but fortunately the 
day was fine, and the drying was an easier process than the 
washing. 

After breakfast, having nothing to do, some of the boys 
watched the road for the arrival of Lieutenant Q. and his 
party. They came up about two o'clock, and were conducted 
to where we were camped. 

It appeared that the army, which after the battle of the 8th 
had retreated through the country round to the northward 
and eastward of Fayetteville, had come, on the north side of 
Boston Mountain, on to the same road by which the trains 
and the wounded would return from the south side of the 
ridge, where the fighting had been on the 6th and 7th, and 
that Lieutenant G.'s party, after we had parted, by keep- 
ing more to the west than ours, had come to this road sooner 
than we, and come up with part of the trains and got informa- 
tion that there were to come with the trains, or by the same 
road as them, the wounded we had left behind us on the night 
of the 7 th and the four men that we had sent to attend to 
them, with some other sick and stragglers. 

Poor Lieutenant B., who was on the quartermaster's depart- 
ment, was not over robust at best, and worn out by toil and 
privation, he had completely broken down and had to be left 
behind. I am not sure whether he died there or not, but I 
never heard more of him. The other sick and wounded were 
left at places where they would be cared for in the meantime. 



342 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Throughout this and the following day the rest of the regi- 
ment got up and the greater part of the division. 

Captain G., who was now temporarily in command of the 
regiment, on hearing of my arrest, said he would see to it at 
once, and explain matters. Churchhill, he said, was an officer 
and a gentleman (which he certainly was) and he had no 
doubt the thing would be put right. He immediately went to 
Colonel Churchhill, who had just got up the same day, and 
after a little explanation returned and told me that I was 
relieved from arrest without censure. 

I was glad it was arranged, as I did not know how it might 
be about my having commanded an armed party to take rations 
by force while I was myself under arrest, and I reported the 
matter to Captain G. He said there would never be a word 
said about that. All the other companies had taken rations 
in the same way, as everything was demoralized and in dis- 
order in the commissary department, but that would soon be 
set right. 

The work of reorganising was now set about vigorously. 
Price's army had already proceeded towards the Mississippi 
River, on its way to join the Army of the Centre. The 1st 
brigade of our division also proceeded in that direction ; but 
the 2nd brigade, and especially our regiment, was too much 
cut up and crippled to proceed, until some of the wounded had 
recovered and the missing stragglers returned, and the 
prisoners, among whom there were a good many officers, had 
been exchanged and again joined the brigade. 

Our regiment was ordered up to Fort Smith, to garrison 
that place and recuperate, and wait for the return of the 
colonel, major, and other officers and men, who were prisoners 
in the enemy's camp. 

We marched up to the fort, and occupied the same ground 
which we had occupied in June of the previous year, but 
taking up much less space than at that time. Our force was 
now reduced to less than 500, or less than half of Avhat we had 
been when here before. The ordinary routine of camp life was 
again resumed. Company and battalion drill (things now 
stale to us) was gone through every day. 

We now discovered one of the chief reasons why we were 
not cut to pieces while fighting so long against a superior force 
and under such a tremendous fire as we had done on the 7th. 

A good many of the men of the regiment, on returning from 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDEEATE ARMY. 343 

the field that evening, had exchanged their arms for those of 
the enemy ; that is, they had thrown down their smooth bore 
muskets, and taken up the superior arms of the enemy which 
-lay thick on the field. They now began to try their new 
arms at marks at 60, 80, and 100 yards, but could not hit the 
marks — the ball passing high over it. It was now found that 
all these rifles had raised movable sights which were set for 
200 yards, and in no case did the sights seem to have been 
altered. As we had pressed up upon them that day, keeping 
up to within from 40 to 80 yards, they seem to have omitted 
to alter their sights, or in the quick and sudden movements 
amongst the trees and smoke, it would have been rather a 
difficult matter to always determine the distance and alter the 
sights to suit. The consequence was that most of their shots 
passed over our heads, and this accounted for the trees being 
marked with shot so high up. 

This led to raised sights being condemned by us, and they 
were taken off*, and the line of sight set to range with the line 
of fire at about 70 yards — it being considered simpler and better 
when the distance was uncertain and constantly changing, for 
men acting upon the spur of the moment to learn how to aim, 
high or low, according to the distance as they were now in 
the habit of doing, than to stop and calculate the distance and 
alter the sight for every shot. 

Raised sights, it was considered, might do very well for 
sharpshooters, or in circumstances where the object was single 
and continued fixed, and time could be taken to calculate the 
distance, and set the sight to suit it ; but the hurry-skurry 
of the battle, in front of an enemy rushing to and fro, was 
not a very good place for making nice calculations, and 
movable sights were there quite useless and in the way. 

We had been here only some four or five days, when our 
officers and men, who had been prisoners with the enemy, being 
exchanged, returned and joined the regiment. 

The reason so many field officers were taken prisoners on 
the 7th was as had been suspected. After the death of 
M'Culloch and M'Intosh, they had gone, one after another, to 
communicate with the 1st and 3rd brigades, and find out why 
they did not come to support us, and they had just walked 
into that part of the enemy's force which we had cut off" and 
left behind on our right. 

They had much to tell of their experience in the enemy's 



344 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



camp ; and what they had gleaned in the way of information 
was something the same as we had heard before — that the 
enemy was astonished at, and could not account for, us with- 
drawing from the held, and was expecting us to attack them 
again, and if we had continued the fight for a little longer, 
they would have been completely defeated. 

Of this ill devised and still worse conducted campaign and 
battle, I have seen very few detailed accounts given, and any 
that I have seen, seemed, from my point of view, to be very 
evasive and inaccurate. 

What the losses were on either side I never learned. I 
have seen many contradictory accounts, but I doubt if 
anything like a correct account was ever given. On the part 
of the south, I am certain it was reported at a great deal less 
than it actually was. This was no doubt to cover the blunder 
and satisfy public opinion, but I doubt if any correct estimate 
could be formed, as there was a large number of emergency 
men whose names were not on the roll. Some of these were 
killed or disappeared among the missing, while some remained 
with the army, and were enrolled as members, and took the 
place of some of the regular men who were missing. 



CHAPTER XXI Y. 

DEPARTURE FROM FORT SMITH TO JOIN THE ARMY OF THE CENTRE — ARRIVAL 
AT LITTLE ROCK — THE CONSCRIPT ACT — ARRIVAL AT MEMPHIS — NEWS- 
PAPER ACCOUNTS OF THE WAR— ARRIVAL AT CORINTH— PREPARATION FOR 
A GREAT BATTLE WHICH DID NOT TAKE PLACE— EXPIRATION OF OUR TERM 
OP SERVICE— BATTLE OF FARMINGTON. 

A DAY or two after the officers and men who had been 
exchanged had returned to duty we were ordered with all the 
remaining troops of the Army of the West to proceed to 
Memphis, Tennessee, and join the Army of the Centre. 

We were not to be taken down the river as we had come, 
but were to march by land as far as Little Rock at least. 

The distance by the road to Little Rock was about 250 
miles, but 20 miles in a day, if the roads were anything good, 
was now to us mere child's play, if we had trains to supply us 
with food and tents and blankets to enable us to sleep at 
nights. 

We left Fort Smith about the 28th of March and reached 
Little Rock in about 13 days. 

When we got opposite Little Rock we learned that the road 
from there to Memphis was perfectly impassable, and that it 
was quite impossible to get there by the land route. Price, 
who was most indefatigable in his exertions, had taken his 
army that way, but had to leave a large part of his baggage 
trains, and some of his artillery sunk in the mud in the 
neighbourhood of " Des. Ark," and since then the Missis- 
sippi had risen, and much of the country and the roads were 
flooded. It was quite evident that the Mississippi must be 
very high, as the Arkansas river was very high at Little Rock, 
from the waters of the Mississippi backing up. 

There was, therefore, no help for it, and we were ordered to 
camp where we were and wait until transport steamers could 
be sent to take us by water to Memphis. We were camped 
on the north or left bank of the Arkansas river, opposite 
Little Rock. There was no town or houses on this side of 
the river, but a large and substantial ferry-boat plied back 



346 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

and forward to maintain the connection of the roads which 
passed through at this part. 

Colonel Hebert, who still commanded the brigade, had with 
his staff taken up his head-quarters at the principal hotel in 
Little Rock. 

On the day after our arrival I was sent to his head-quarters 
with reports and a statement of some articles in the way of 
clothing for the men, which were supposed to be obtainable in 
Little Rock. 

I made myself as clean as possible, as I would be going 
again into civilisation. 

It was late in the afternoon when I got over, and when I 
presented the papers the colonel looked over them, but said it 
would be too late to do anything that night, and I might wait 
until the morning, and he ordered the proprietor of the hotel 
to furnish me with accommodation for the night. 

I was supplied with a good room, but the idea of being 
under a roof in a carpeted room and soft bed was too much of 
a change. I could not realise it, and got but little sleep. At 
every turn in my sleep the soft bed under me woke me up to 
a sense of my strange position. 

In the morning I got up early and had a ramble through 
the city. The war had not yet seriously affected this place, 
except so far as the stock of merchandise was concerned. All 
kinds of Northern or European goods were very scarce and 
dear — in fact, scarcely obtainable : this was of course owing 
to the blockade. The traffic in this class of goods seemed to 
be here now as it was in the South throughout the war, chiefly 
confined to the children of Israel. These gentlemen seemed 
to have international com'munication by some secret system 
known only to themselves, by which information was trans- 
mitted and the integrity of officials weighed in the balance, 
and the price of that integrity secretly ascertained, and the 
" goots," as they called the merchandise, found their way across 
the lines through secret and intricate channels, and Avere stored 
away in unfathomable recesses. 

Isaac seldom had much of value in his store to sell under 
the ordinary way of traffic for Confederate scrip ; such " goots," 
he would tell you, were unknown within the Confederate States, 
owing to the cursed blockade, but the confidential exhibit of a 
few gold pieces would often bring from the vasty deep the 
articles you desired. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 347 

At this time, April, 1862, the dearth of Northern and 
foreign goods had not got to the extreme in the Confederate 
States, and there were still some to be had, although scarce and 
dear. 

I bought some shirts and underclothing for myself, of which 
I stood in great need ; and having got a special requisition 
from the colonel to the quartermaster, I got some clothing for 
the men of the company, which I got taken over to the camp. 

The town was now beginning to fill up with officers, and 
such privates as could obtain passes were crossing from the 
camp to the town, to have a look at civilisation and city life 
once more. But this was cut short by the arrival of the 
transport steamers, and we were quickly called upon to strike 
tents and embark. 

At this time there came a piece of news which very much 
damped the spirits of the men of our regiment at least. This 
was an intimation of the passing by the Confederate Congress, 
at Richmond, of the Conscript Act, whereby every citizen of 
the Confederate States between the ages of 18 and 35 was 
made subject to military duty, and could be called into service; 
and all troops enlisted or mustered into the service for short 
periods should be continued in the service. 

This was a great disappointment to the men of our regiment,, 
which was altogether composed of men who had volunteered 
for one year only, and had been mustered in for that period, 
and were now looking forward to getting home for a little rest 
after their privations. 

There is no question but nearly every one of the men upon 
recuperating a little after their toil, and spending a few weeks 
with their friends, would have again joined the service, as 
nearly every one had done, who had hitherto been discharged 
on account of wounds or sickness, and had subsequently 
become fit for service. 

The Conscription Act was now the general topic and formed 
the subject for conversation on the passage from Little Rock 
to Memphis, and several copies of the act were in circulation. 
Most of the men emphatically declared that they would wil- 
lingly serve any length of time as volunteers, but they would 
never serve in the degraded position of a conscript. 

I got a copy of the act and looked over it. I saw that 
regiments enrolled for one year might, by continuing as they 
were, remain as volunteers, with the privilege of electing their 



348 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

own officers. That any one subject to military duty, or already 
in the service, might be exempted by furnishing a substitute ; 
such substitute not being subject to military duty, and ap- 
proved by the proper authority. 

The next clause directly aifected my own position, which 
was that — 

" Foreigners, who are not citizens of the Confederate States, 
and who shall not have acquired domicile, shall not be subject 
to mihtary duty, and shall be discharged at the expiration of their 
original term of enlistment, by order of their brigade com- 
mander. The question of domicile, however, shall be a ques- 
tion of law, and not to be determined on the oath, or opinion, 
of the parties." 

It seemed to strike me that one of the principal motives for 
providing this last clause, by which I would be exempted, was 
to make provision for the carrying out of the preceding clause 
in regard to substitutes. There w^ere, undoubtedly, a great 
many men of wealth and political influence within the limits of 
the prescribed ages whom it w^ould not be politic to press into 
service, and to exempt the rich would cause dissatisfaction ; 
and they would not be able to find offices for all those possessed 
of political influence, and if those possessing Avealth or political 
influence desired to purchase substitutes, it would be necessary 
to have some suitable men to form such substitutes. 

The act certainly caused great dissatisfaction among the 
troops that had been enrolled for one year only. These of 
course constituted but a small portion of the army, as by far 
the greatest portion of the troops had volunteered for the war, 
and it did not afiect them in any way, except so far as it might 
be supposed that in retaining all the troops in the ser\ice, and 
adding as many more as possible, it would bring more men to 
their aid, and push on the war sooner to an end, if they expected 
to obtain their object of independence by force of arms. But the 
volunteers were opposed to the principle of the act, and con- 
sidered that men forced compulsorily into service were of little 
value and would only be an incumbrance — and I beheve they 
were right. It no doubt caused a good many who had not yet 
joined the service, and who were hesitating, to volunteer at 
once, whilst they had the opportunity of getting into volunteer 
regiments, but I never knew of a single instance of any of the 
old volunteer regiments, though reduced to perfect skeletons, 
being patched up by the addition of conscripts. In fact the 



LIFE IS THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 349 

old volunteers protested against the admission of conscripts 
into their corps. 

Some of us rejoiced over the idea that it would catch up, 
and bring into service, these political loafers who had been 
such rabid secessionists, and who had so bounced about fighting 
before the war, and aided in bringing it about, but not one of 
whom had ever entered the army. These demagogues always 
contrived to evade the duty in one way or another. Some of 
them who had vaunted that they would go to the enemy's lines 
and fight, if they went single-handed, did go to the enemy's 
lines, but not to fight, but to take refuge for fear that they 
would be conscripted. Others, more of the class of Govern- 
ment minions, managed to get some low ofiice, such as hunting 
up conscripts, and every small country town or village, far 
away from the din of war, was filled with those drunken, 
swaggering loafers dressed in gaudy Confederate uniforms 
hunting up conscripts. In fact, I believe it took more men 
to enforce the act than what they obtained by it ; and those 
who were forced into ser^^.ce only had the effect of filling up 
the hospitals, and I know that out of 7000 who were sent to 
the Central Army at Corinth, over 3000 of them were on the 
sick list before a fortnight ; but of this I will say more here- 
after. 

There were also a few of the more far-seeing and broad-minded 
that could see in the act just a slight advance towards despotism, 
but of course such an idea could not be breathed openly. 

We arrived at Memphis about the 18th of April. Memphis 
was a good sized city, and, like Yicksburg, Natchez, and other 
towns on the left bank of the Mississippi, it is situated on 
high bluff's overlooking the river. It had not, however, been 
fortified in any way. 

Here was assembled a large body of troops who, like our- 
selves, did not know where they were going. This was a 
central place, and we were to remain until further orders. 

We got newspapers here with all the news and accounts of 
the war for the last three months. These accounts, however, 
all seemed to have been carefully prepared by the different 
newspapers under the most approved Government inspection, 
and put up expressly for public use. Each paper at the same 
time boasted of the free and independent way in which they 
expressed their sentiments, and congratulated themselves and 
the people of the South on the glorious liberties which they 



350 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

enjoyed in always having the freedom of the press, the great 
lever of human liberty, preserved in^dolate. 

Some of us, however, knew what the material was composed 
of, and just sw^allowed what w^e thought was sufficient. Of 
course only Confederate successes w^ere recorded. Fort Henry 
and Fort Donelson had been taken by the enemy, but then 
they were of no use, and their loss would not be felt. Island 
No. 10 had also fallen, but that was altogether in consequence 
of the river rising to an unusual height ; there might be some- 
thing in that. In one paper a glo%ving account was given of 
Van Dorn's brilliant successes in the west. He had stopped 
M'CuUoch's retrograde movement and advanced boldly to the 
Missouri line, and got into the rear of the Federal army at 
Pea Ridge, and was driving them southward before him like 
a flock of sheep, although in a later issue it was admitted 
that Van Dorn had found out that General M'Culloch and 
General M'Intosh and other officers had been killed, and from 
want of them his right wing had got somewhat demoralised, 
and he had found it necessary to give up the pursuit, and 
hasten to join the Army of the Centre. There was also some 
accounts of the Federal navy, which was reported to have 
been expending its force along the coast, and had taken some 
small forts which were of little or no consequence, but it had 
now entered the Mississippi, where every ship would certainly 
be smashed to pieces by the gallant General Duncan command- 
ing Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip. 

But the latest and most exciting news was the battle of 
Shiloh, which had been fought about two w^eeks previous, in 
which the Confederates had gained a great victory, and had 
driven the enemy back into the Cumberland River and taken 
many of their guns, but by some means they had been obliged 
to fall back again to Corinth, where they were now stationed, 
and where it was supposed the Army of the West would join 
them. Of course those glowing newspaper accounts Avere 
believed by some, but others knew what allowances to make. 

Taking the news all in all was not reassuring. The fall of 
Forts Henry and Donelson, and Island No. 10, was a great 
disaster, and the enemy's gunboats might be expected down at 
Memphis, which was not fortified ; and if Fort Jackson and 
Fort St. Philip, at the entrance to the Mississippi, fell, the 
cause might be considered lost, as New Orleans and the whole 
of the Mississippi River and its tributaries would be in the 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 351 

hands of the enemy, and under control of their gun-boats, 
which seemed to be their chief source of success, and against 
which the Confederates were utterly powerless. No care had 
been taken to provide proper defences on the water, although 
the Confederate territory was largely intersected by navigable 
rivers, and there was not now another fortified position on the 
river, although there was some talk of fortifying Yicksburg. 

It was now the subject of conjecture whether we were to 
fortify and defend Memphis, or to go and join Beauregarde's 
army at Corinth. 

Memphis was an important place from its position on the 
Mississippi, and had railway communication with Charleston, 
Mobile, New Orleans, Vicksburg, and other places in the 
South, and if the advance do^vn the river of the Federal gun- 
boats could be here arrested, the communication to the west 
by the Arkansas River would still be preserved, which would 
be lost if the standpoint was made as far down as Yicksburg. 

But Corinth was still more important, for here the Memphis 
and Charleston railw^ay crossed the Mobile and Ohio railway, 
and from the latter, at a place called Meridian, some distance 
south from Corinth, lines branched off to Jackson, Vicksburg, 
New Orleans, and Mobile. If Corinth should fall into the 
hands of the Federals, Memphis would be cut off from inland 
communication and be of comparatively little value. 

Our conjectures were soon set at rest by orders to proceed 
at once to Corinth, a great battle being immediately expected, 
and we were conveyed there, a distance of about 40 miles, 
inside and on the top of railway freight trucks. 

When we got to Corinth we found an immense army assem- 
bling to meet the combined armies of Grant and Buel, under 
General Halleck. It sounded strange to us that this General 
Halleck, who now held such an important command and over 
such men as Grant and Buel, should be the same that about 
six months before had been so out-generaled and driven back 
upon St, Louis by our poor General M'Culloch with his small 
force, who never rose higher than a brigadier-general, but fell 
in battle and his name all but forgotten. 

In a few days after our arrival preparations were made for 
a general battle ; the enemy's forces were said to be drawn out 
in order of battle about four miles from Corinth. A great bustle 
it was; our army amounted in all to about 110,000 men; the 
enemy's force was supposed to amount to about 140,000. 



352 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

After standing in order of battle for several hours in a 
heavy rain, it seemed doubtful if there was going to be any 
battle that day, and we were sent back to camp, with orders 
to be ready to fall in at a moment's notice. 

The next day the same thing was re-enacted, but still the 
fight did not come ofi". 

On the fourth day we were ordered to be fully prepared, 
because, if the enemy did not attack us, we should advance and 
attack them, and we were certain the battle would come off 
this day. When it comes to the verge of battle there is not 
much pleasure in the suspense, and the men are impatient till 
the battle comes off, and they were now getting tired of this 
delay. The wet weather and the constant trampling of horses 
and artillery had got the place into a fearful state with mud. 

We advanced to where the enemy's line had been formed, 
but found they had fallen back, so it was just the old story — 
ordered back to camp again. The men were dissatisfied, and 
grumbled at being called out so often to no purpose ; and here 
I noticed for the first time for several months our old friend 
Dan. He was not now carrying his knapsack, and whether 
he still maintained his principles on the whisky question or 
not I do not know, but he was still as contrary and pugnacious 
as ever, for he stood out and said he would just be d — d if he 
was going back to camp. He had come out here for a fight, 
and he was going to have it. He said he got nothing to eat 
when he did go to camp, and he was not going to be wearing 
his shoes going back and forward this way for nothing. I 
looked at Dan's shoes ; the sole was gone off one of them, and 
the other was torn down on the one side and tied with strings, 
and his naked foot protruded through it. 

Whether Dan was persuaded or coerced to go back to camp 
I do not know, as our company had to move on. 

We found it very different here from what it had been with 
us in the Army of the West. There we could see and com- 
prehend all the movements ; the army was small and well in 
hand, and the different corps fell into their places quickly and 
without confusion. 

There was a constant changing of positions in this camp ; 
troops were coming in from all quarters. The whole of the 
Confederate forces, with exception of the Army of Virginia, 
were being concentrated at this point. A large portion of the 
army was composed of raw troops and conscripts, who neither 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 353 

could be trained nor wanted to be trained, but lumbered up the 
way, and for every three or four of them there was a com- 
missioned officer, some wealthy man's son or Government 
minion for whom the Conscript Act was no doubt in a great 
measure intended to provide employment, and they had obtained 
commissions, but they were as raw and ignorant of military 
matters as the conscripts themselves, and possessed only a fair 
share of conceit and effrontery. 

These gentlemen and their commands, when a sudden call to 
the front was made, were sure to be in the way, getting 
jumbled up and in the way of the older corps as they were 
hurrying to the front, and they had to be placed somewhere to 
prevent confusion, but in fact the most of them were soon 
located in the hospital, commissioned officers and all. 

For a considerable time after our arrival here it was a con- 
tinuation of alarms, constantly turning out and forming in 
order of battle, but never beyond a few exchanges of artillery 
fire and an occasional skirmish with small arms did it come to 
anything. 

The object of both armies seemed to have been to act on the 
defensive, each trying to draw the other on to the attack. It 
was a continuation of feint attacks by our side or repelling of 
attacks by the enemy, which also turned out to be feints. Of 
this we were getting heartily tired. 

I sometimes thought this keeping of the troops in constant 
motion and the prospect of a gigantic battle before them was 
to give them no time for reflection or brooding over the great 
disaster which had befallen the Confederacy, the news of which 
could now no longer be kept from them. 

This was in the penetration of the enemy's fleet into the 
Mississippi, the fall of New Orleans, and the whole of the 
Mississippi River now in the hands of the enemy. All this had 
occurred in spite of the well-knoAvn importance of the position, 
and the disastrous effects to the Confederacy should it be 
forced. Its supposed impregnability and the ample means 
furnished to, and the great confidence reposed in, those to 
whom the defence was entrusted made the disaster most dis- 
couraging. 

The news came like a thunder-clap upon the men, and most 
of them, I believe, regarded it as the death-knell of the Con- 
federacy. 

The accounts were of course garbled, and the matter 

z 



354 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

accounted for in the most plausible way, and set forth as of 
little consequence and would yet be turned to the advantage 
of the Confederacy. The army was now thickly studded 
with minions of the Government in the uniforms of captains 
and lieutenants, in sinecure offices, in the departments, and in 
and out of the hospitals, whose chief business seemed to be to 
keep up a show of enthusiasm in favour of the Government, 
and drown by arguments and threats any criticism on the 
disgraceful management and poor defence of the place, and 
every effort was made to divert the attention of the men from 
the subject. Of course a good many did not see the impor- 
tance of the disaster, and were persuaded and satisfied. 

A number of troops were now sent off to occupy and fortify 
Vicksburg, which it was supposed would counteract the con- 
sequences of the disaster to some extent. 

It was now into the month of May, and our term of service 
was expired, but so great was the commotion, and the expected 
battle on hand, that the subject was not brought up. Our 
colonel had been made a brigadier-general, and was away from 
the regiment. Both Lieutenant-Colonel H. and Major T. had 
resigned and retired; they were both aged men and their 
health was failing. The former had not been with us since we 
had left winter quarters. The regiment had been without any 
regular commander since Pea Ridge, sometimes one captain 
and sometimes another commanding it. 

On a slight lull taking place in the commotion, the subject 
was brought up, and we were told that the regiment would be 
dealt with as a regiment, and not by companies as they entered 
the service, and therefore the time of service would expire on 
the 17th of May, that being the date on which the regiment 
was organised. 

It was now the 5th of May, and we were told there was to 
be a battle on the following day. Whether the intimation of 
the battle was to stir up the men and stop any discussion on 
the subject I do not know, but a battle was intended, and did 
take place to a certain extent. 

In the evening the same old order was sent round — three 
days' cooked rations, and 60 rounds of ammunition, and be 
ready to march at daybreak. The three days' cooked rations 
were superfluous and might have been left out of the order, but 
the order was carried round and delivered quietly to each 
company, which betokened that something was intended. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 355 

At daybreak the whole division was under arms and march- 
ing to the front ; whether the whole army moved or not we 
did not know. We seemed to be kept well to the right, 
making way at times to allow the artillery to pass on. About 
1 1 o'clock our company was deployed in front of the regiment, 
to form a part of a line of skirmishers. 

About noon we heard the fire of the artillery, and we were 
ordered to press up quickly, in the direction of where we heard 
the firing. Shortly afterwards we heard the crackling of small 
<irms, and we soon came upon the extremity of the enemy's 
left wing. We were soon hotly engaged with them, they 
falling back, as usual, and we kept following them up, to keep 
them at short range. 

We were, however, ordered to be cautious, and advance 
slowly, lest we should come under the sweep of our own 
artillery, which was firing direct towards the front ; while we 
seemed to have turned their left wing, and were following 
them up towards the centre. After a short engagement here 
we were ordered to halt, the enemy in our front having disap- 
peared in the smoke. The firing in our front was now for 
some time very heavy, though very little of it came our way. 
After waiting for some time we were ordered to advance again, 
to press the retreat of the enemy, who were falling backwards 
towards a swamp in their rear, where they shortly all disap- 
peared — and the battle was over — the artillery still continuing 
to send some shells after them into the swamp. 

On following them we found that there was a part of the 
swamp where the water was deep and impassable, and over 
which there was a substantial bridge, newly erected, over 
which some of our men had passed, while our artillery was 
raking the woods on the opposite side. 

Here was discovered a bit of Yankee enterprise and perse- 
verance. On the opposite side of the swamp much of the 
timber had been cut down and a portable saw-mill erected ; 
there was also a telegraph station, with line of wire extending 
northwards, and probably towards their headquarters. 

It was now plain to be seen that the enemy had intended to 
advance their left wing and obtain a commanding position on 
our right flank, which Beauregarde considered to be protected 
by this swamp, and they had in an incredibly short time 
brought up and erected this portable saw-mill, felled timber, 
sawed it up, and erected this bridge. They had got over it 



356 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



about 20,000 men, and some heavy guns, and were establishing 
themselves in a commanding position. This being known to 
Beauregarde he awaited the proper time and made this sudden 
attack. Having captured the guns and driven the enemy 
back across the bridge, the saw-mill was destroyed, and the 
bridge burned. 

This battle, which was called the Battle of Farmington from 
the name of the place, was of no great proportions and has 
been very little noticed. Nevertheless, it was more decisive in 
its character, and the results of more importance than either 
Shiloh or Pea Ridge. 

The loss sustained by the Federals was stated by the 
Confederate newspapers to be about 800 killed, and the 
Confederates about 300 killed. That may have been, but 
from what I saw on the field, I do not think there was 
anything like that number. Several hundred prisoners were 
taken, some fine heavy siege guns, several hundred stands of 
arms, and a large quantity of camp equipage fell into our 
hands. The advance of the enemy on our right flank was 
checked, and they would be compelled to change their tactics 
in that direction. 

We remained on the field for some time awaiting orders. 
The place where the enemy had camped was being cleared 
and the ground was strewn with debris. Knapsacks, clothing, 
newspapers, letters, and other small articles lay scattered about. 
I picked up and examined some of the letters. They were 
mostly all headed with some patriotic motto, and a great many 
printed cards were enclosed or lay scattered about bearing 
emblematic figures and inscriptions, such as female figures 
pointing to Fort Sumter with the words : " Sumter first, 
peace afterwards." Others with the emblem of the Union — the 
eagle and the motto, " E pluribus unum," with the words : 
" Fight for the Union and the Union only," and many similar 
representations, but never one having the slightest reference 
to the question of slavery. 

The field was soon cleared of the guns, arms, tents, and 
other material which had been captured, and a party was 
detailed to bury the dead, and we were ordered back to camp 
again, with the intimation, this time, that we had done all 
that we had come to do. 

As we passed over the rising ground which had been the 
position the enemy had been trying to gain and occupy, I 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 357 

observed Beauregarde, Bragg, and one or two other generals 
in conversation. They seemed to be taking a survey of the 
position. The two former I had known in Louisiana previous 
to the war. I would scarcely have known them now, they 
liad got so much older in appearance — especially Beauregarde. 
Two years before when I had last seen him, his hair and beard 
were black as jet — they were now nearly white. 

It had been supposed by some that the Federal army would 
not advance far from the Cumberland River, where they were 
supported by their gunboats, which had saved them at the 
battle of Shiloh ; and if the Cumberland river fell, as it was 
certain to do as the summer advanced, the gunboats would 
have to withdraw and run down to the Mississippi, and then 
we could attack them with more advantage, but the advance 
at Farmington which we had repulsed, showed that idea to be 
fallacious. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

EEORGANISATION OF THE REGIMENT— DISPOSITION OF THE FORCES AT CORINTH 
— THE DIFFERENT GENERALS — FALL OF MEMPHIS— HARSH MEASURES OF 
BRAGG— THEIR EFFECTS— DISAFFECTION IN THE ARMY— THE CONFEDERACY 
ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE— RE-ESTABLISHED BY THE ACTS OF BUTLER IN 
NEW ORLEANS — STRENGTHENED BY GENERAL LEE — CORINTH CLOSER 
INVESTED — CONSTANT FIGHTING— EVACUATION OF CORINTH. 

A FEW days after the battle of Farmington, an order was 
issued to the 3rd Louisiana Regiment, that as their term of 
service Avas about expired, they would now come under the 
Conscript Act, and those subject to ser\dce under that act 
would be conscripted for further service. But in considera- 
tion of the gallant ser^dces performed by that regiment, and 
the high honours which it had gained, the general command- 
ing was desirous that its name should be preserved, and that 
it should continue organised as a regiment, and that as a 
tribute to the men composing it, they should be allowed the 
privilege of re-organising and re-electing their officers, and con- 
tinue on the same footing with the other volunteer regiments 
which had volunteered for the war ; and such of the members 
who were not subject to conscription should serve until the 15th 
of July, when they would be discharged in terms of the act. 

The men had no choice but to accept the conditions ; they 
would have liked to have got a week or two to go to see 
their friends, but they knew that if the regiment was dis- 
banded, they would never get beyond the lines of the camp, 
but be pressed as conscripts, which was of all things the most 
detestable. They knew that as volunteers they had at least 
some little standing and respect, and by having the election of 
their officers, had some voice in the general conduct of the 
service. 

As conscripts they would be serfs, having neither respect 
nor rights ; would be domineered over, and kicked about by a 
set of puppies appointed by the War Department, men possess- 
ing no other qualification for their office, or knowledge of 
duty, beyond brazen effrontery, depraved principles, and apti- 
tude for performing any kind of despicable service to main- 
tain favour with or support a party in power. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 35 & 

The men — or at least the most far-seeing of them — saw that 
the only chance they had of retaining even the faintest spark 
of that liberty and independence which had been their birth- 
right and boast, was now to adhere together as a volunteer 
regiment, and they decided at once on a matter in which they 
had no choice. 

The re-election of officers, which was no doubt thrown out 
as a sop to the men, and in this case was also extended to the 
non-commissioned officers, was not very gratifying to the 
officers. There were no doubt a great many commissions 
vacant, which, small as the strength of the regiment was, 
might be filled up, but it was never expected that a re-election 
would take place. 

The officers had served a year in their respective positions, 
and were now to take the chance of being turned out by a new 
election, which was exceedingly probable, not from any un- 
popularity, but on the old cherished democratic principle of 
rotation in office. 

I was on very friendly terms with most of the officers of the 
regiment, and had whiled away the time on many a dreary 
night round the camp fires by discussing amongst other sub- 
jects political economy in general, and the forms of govern- 
ment of different nations as compared with American institu- 
tions as they were called. 

This doctrine of rotation in office I held to be peculiarly 
American, and I did not approve of it, on the ground that it 
kept always inexperienced men in office, because the incum- 
bents were turned out just as they were becoming acquainted 
with the duties of their offices. In this opinion I took my 
stand almost alone ; nearly all were opposed to me, maintain- 
ing that rotation in office was based upon justice and equal 
rights to all. 

"When this order for a re-election of officers was issued it in 
a manner threw all the officers and privates again on an 
equality. The officers of course held their commissions and 
rank, and could retire altogether if they wished ; but they did 
not consider the system wise or just, and thought it rather a 
singular way of promotion. 

I, in a half-joking way, reminded them of the justice and 
equitable rights of rotation-in-office principles, but they did 
not see it just in the same light. 

The most of the officers retired and did not offer themselves 



360 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

as candidates for re-election. All the field officers were already 
gone, and it was plainly to be seen that the high tone of disin- 
terested principle which had been so conspicuous at the original 
formation of the regiment, and indeed of the whole army, was 
now considerably modified. Office was now, not only sought 
after, but it was hinted that, in some cases, it had actually 
been sneaked after — a thing supposed to be regarded with 
abhorrence among the volunteers ; and it was openly asserted 
that little cliques had been got up in the different messes of 
some of the companies by aspirants to a lieutenant's com- 
mission. 

When the election took place in our company our captain 
retired, and was not a candidate. 

Lieutenant G. was elected captain, and our 1st lieutenant 
remained as before , but, beyond this, the election was a mere 
farce. Two lieutenants, one orderly sergeant, four duty 
sergeants, and four corporals had to be elected ; and the whole 
strength of the company was about 39. Of these eight were 
to be discharged on the 15th of July, under the act, and took 
no part in the election, and several were absent on detached 
service, while several declined to vote after the captain and 
1st lieutenant had been elected ; so that the voting was left 
almost exclusively to the candidates themselves. I must say, 
however, that throughout the regiment, notwithstanding the 
principle of rotation-in-office, wherever an old incumbent 
offered himself as a candidate he was invariably elected. 

The regiment was now re-organised and new field officers 
elected — these were elected by the line officers — a new staff" 
appointed ; but as most of the other companies were reduced, 
like our own, the regiment was a mere skeleton. 

As I was going to leave, of course, I was not a candidate 
for the office of orderly sergeant, and this placed me in 
rather a peculiar position. Not having a commission, I could 
not retire from the service without obtaining a discharge ; and 
on consulting with the captain and some of the other officers 
of the regiment, it was considered that I should get a discharge 
at once, under the clause in the Conscript Act providing for the 
discharge of aliens at the expiration of their original term of 
enlistment. The necessary form was made out and signed by 
the captain, and I went to the colonel and presented it. 

Colonel A., who had just been newly elected to the command 
of the regiment, was a relation of our late respected and 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 361 

lamented General M'Culloch. He had been an officer in the 
United States army, and was a thorough soldier. 

On my presenting the application to him he was somewhat 
embarrassed, and did not seem inclined to grant a discharge 
under that clause, which might be establishing a precedent, as 
it was probably the first that had been applied for, and he 
would like to have some instructions as to the full meaning of 
the clause. He pointed out to me that I could claim no 
exemption as a neutral foreigner, as I had already taken an 
active part in several battles and had violated neutrality, and 
referred me to the Queen's proclamation. I told him I had 
not seen the Queen's proclamation until I had been enlisted 
and bound by an engagement to the Confederate States for a 
period of one year, from which I could not resile, and that I 
had been refused a commission because I would not become a 
citizen ; and I now considered that I had faithfully fulfilled 
my engagement to the Confederate States, and I trusted they 
would do the same by me. He admitted that I had done my 
part well and faithfully, and for that reason he would do the 
best he could for me, but he said his position was rather a 
difficult one in the matter. He would not like to be the first 
to establish a precedent which might be the means of thinning 
the ranks of the army, as if one discharge was granted under 
this clause, he had no doubt there would be 30 applications 
from amongst the different companies of the regiment within a 
week, which, in the present condition of affairs, would be a 
very serious matter ; and he must get some instructions in 
regard to this clause. He trusted I would see the justice of 
his remarks ; in the meantime he would do the best he could 
in the matter, and would lay it before the brigade-commander, 
and I would have an answer in a day or two. 

I asked him what I was to do in the meantime. If the 
question of violating neutrality was to be brought up in the 
way he had pointed out, I would not be justified in taking up 
arms after I was free of my agreement unless it was under 
compulsion ; and, further, what position would I now be in ? 
I was no longer orderly-sergeant. I would not serve in the ranks 
unless disrated by a court-martial, and could not draw rations 
except in some capacity. He pondered a little and said that he 
did not well see how that was to be got over, but the only way 
he saw I might not like, which was, that he would formally 
order me under arrest or suspension in the meantime, and 



362 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

unless I could propose some other arrangement, he had no 
other alternative. I saw no other alternative myself, and 
agreed. He said all I had to do was to go to my captain 
and report myself under arrest, and he would explain the 
matter. 

To be under arrest or suspension on such conditions was not 
considered either as a disgrace or a punishment, but a simple 
suspension from duty, and as I was under no restrictions, I 
rather enjoyed it as a relaxation from duty and a hoHday. I 
had now an opportunity of roaming over the extensive camp of 
the whole army and studying the position. 

The object and disposition of the forces under the different 
generals, as far as I could make out, was to hold the position 
of Corinth, where converged different railway lines. 

In front was a line leading to the north through Tennessee, 
being part of the Mobile and Ohio railway. This line of 
course was blocked by the enemy's forces stretched across it. 
On the ^ right was a line leading through North Alabama and 
Georgia, on to Charleston. On the left a line to Memphis. 
On the south in the rear, was a line leading to Meridian, and 
from thence to Mobile, New Orleans, Vicksburg and other 
parts in the south. 

The centre and head-quarters of the army was at the small 
town of Corinth, at the railway junction, fronting north ; 
while the right wing stretched out to the eastward on the 
Charleston line for about four miles, and the left wing- 
extended to the westward on the Memphis line, for about 
the same distance; while to the rear along the railway line, 
southwards, was a reserve force. This is a rough sketch of 
the outlines of the camp. The tents, of course, were pitched 
in the most suitable places for the health and convenience of 
the troops. 

To the north, and in front of this, was a defence line which 
was occupied by an advanced guard. This line was in the 
form of a semi-circle — the centre being about four miles in 
advance of the head-quarters, while on the right and left 
respectively, it rested upon or crossed the Memphis and 
Charleston railroad. This advanced line was about 14 miles 
in length, and was constantly occupied by an advanced guard 
of about 16,000 men, and several batteries of artillery, each 
regiment taking its turn of guard duty on this line for 48 
hours at a time. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 363 

Beyond this line, about a quarter of a mile in advance, was 
a line of picket-stations, and from these advanced posts were 
maintained. 

The whole army was under command of General Beauregarde ; 
and of his subordinate generals, commanding the different 
army corps, there were on the centre. General Bragg and 
General Breckenridge ; on the right. General Yan Dorn and 
General Price ; on the left. General Hardy and General 
Little. Under these were many major-generals and brigadier- 
generals without number. 

There were no doubt alterations in these arrangements from 
time to time, but this was about the arrangement as near as I 
could arrive at. 

For me to presume to give any opinion on the merits and 
abilities of those generals might be deemed presumption, but 
I may give an outline of the general estimation in which they 
were held by the troops, as far as I could gather it. 

It will be observed that in this war many of the principal 
officers — both North and South — came from cIa^I life. This 
may be accounted for by the limited army maintained in the 
United States during times of peace. There was, however, a 
large number of young men who had received a thorough 
military education at West Point or other military training 
institutes. Some of these joined the United States army, 
and after a period of service retired from it, and followed some 
active business or pursuit in civil life, and were often in the 
engineering department of the United States or some of the 
indi\ddual States, whence they were ready to come to the front 
in any case of emergency. 

General Beauregarde was a native of New Orleans, of French 
extraction ; he had a thorough military education, and was 
particularly celebrated as a military engineer. He had con- 
structed the defences at Charleston, and commanded the 
Southern army at the battle of Bull Run. He was brave, 
skilful, and cautious, and possessed the universal esteem and 
confidence of the troops. 

General Bragg was also a citizen of Louisiana, and had been 
employed in the Engineering Department of that State ; he 
had been a captain in the United States army, and had served 
in the Mexican war, but had retired several years before the 
civil war broke out. He was not at all popular with the men 
in general, and they had no great faith in his abilities as a 



364 LIFE IX THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

leader. He was said to have made rash adventures, trusting 
to fortune to have them turn out, so as to get the name of 
daring enterprises, and it was sometimes quietly hinted that 
he had no regard for any life except his own. This may have 
been called forth by his unpopularity. He was of a tyrannical 
disposition, and his treatment of his troops was harsh, almost 
amounting to brutality. 

General Breckenridge had been Vice-President of the United 
States under Buchanan. He had a military education, but 
not much military experience ; he possessed much general 
talent and sagacity, he was but an amateur general, but was 
generally popular. 

General Hardy Avas a veteran oificer of the United States 
army. He was a bold leader and a skilful tactician. He was 
the author of a book on tactics called " Hardy's Tactics," 
which were the tactics adopted by the American armies both 
North and South. He was particularly noted here for making 
surprise attacks, skilfully planned, upon the enemy's right 
wing as they advanced their works, so that when any heavy 
cannonading was heard on our left the remark would be, " Oh, 
it is old Hardy dri\"ing back their right mng." 

General Little, I think, was only a major-general ; he had a 
good name, but we did not know much about liim in our 
division. 

General Van Dorn, who was our general, I have already 
referred to. He was a bold, dashing officer, and had rather 
distinguished himself here in reconnoitring the enemy's position, 
the very thing he failed to do at Pea Ridge. He would have 
done very well to command a brigade of cavalry or a flying 
column of mounted infantry, but he was too rash and thought- 
less to have charge of an army. 

General Price, or " Old Papa Price," as he was called, was 
the very reverse of Van Dorn. He had more the look and 
character of a civilian, but had considerable military talent 
and experience. He was zealous, plodding, cautious, and 
exceedingly careful and attentive to the wants of his men, and 
was very popular. He and Van Dorn seemed to be jointly in 
command here, and the two, we supposed, would make one 
very good general if they could only agree. 

The whole strength of the army now amounted to about 
130,000 men of all arms, but of these about 10,000 were on 
the sick list, and the hospitals were full, chiefly of conscripts. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 365 

A few days after I had been suspended I Avas with some of 
the boys digging out a well at a sort of spring a short distance 
from the company camp, with a view to getting water. Colonel 
A. happened to see us and came down to the place and called 
me over to him and asked what we were doing. I told him. 
" But," said he, " I thought you were suspended, and take care 
you are not violating neutrality." I said I thought not in 
merely digging a hole to get water. He laughed and said he 
supposed I was tired of being idle. I said I was, and asked if 
anything had been done in regard to my discharge. He said 
he had laid the matter before the brigade commander and 
before the judge-advocate, but it would be some time before 
any answer would be given — in fact, it was a question which 
they did not wish to bring up at present, and he did not like 
to press it. He thought I should just return to duty and he 
would guarantee me a discharge in July, when the other 
exempts were being discharged, and if I had any scruples 
about neutrality he would order me to return to duty, and I 
might go under protest. " I think," continued he, " that is 
the best arrangement I can make." 

"But what about my rank or position in the company?" 
said I. " There has been another orderly sergeant elected, 
and I suppose he has passed his examination and the appoint- 
ment has been confirmed. He is on detached service at present 
on the quartermaster's department, but I suppose will return 
in a few days and take the appointment." 

" Who is acting orderly sergeant at present 1 " said he. 

" The first duty sergeant," said I. 

" Oh, very well," said he, " you can go and act over him for 
the present, and when the orderly sergeant elect comes to take 
the appointment, I will give you some other appointment of 
equal rank, which you can fill until you get your discharge 
with the other exempts." 

I thought his proposals fair and reasonable, considering the 
imperious position the Government had taken and the arbi- 
trary measures they were enforcing. I therefore agreed to the 
proposal, taking care to have my protest noted. 

I returned to duty, though now taking it easier, leaving the 
first duty sergeant to take the heaviest part of the camp duties 
oflP my hand. 

The position of affairs continued about the same, the two 
armies confronting each other; but it was known that the 



366 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

enemy had considerably increased their forces, and had over 
150,000 men, and were throwing up long lines of earth-works, 
and working up by parallels and closing in around Corinth in 
the anaconda fashion. 

About the middle of May we were apprised of the destruc- 
tion of the Confederate gunboats (such as they were) on the 
Mississippi at Memphis, and the capture of that city by the 
enemy. 

This was not altogether unexpected by certain of our men. 
The gunboats and a considerable land force had been under 
the command of a supposed daring and skilful personage, Jeff. 
Thomson I think was the name. He was described as the 
Swamp Fox, or the Marion of the present war ; although 
some in their scepticism feared that his reputation arose more 
from popular bounce and newspaper puffery than from any 
deeds he had ever performed, and since the catastrophe at New 
Orleans the army had less faith in these newspaper heroes. 
However that might be, the Confederates were defeated and 
their few gunboats destroyed, and Memphis was occupied by 
the Federal troops. 

This was another serious though perhaps not unexpected 
blow to the Confederacy, as it left the Mississippi open to the 
Federals down to New Orleans, allowing their fleet of gun- 
boats from above to form a junction with their fleet at New 
Orleans, unless the fortifications at Vicksburg could be got 
into such a forward state as to prevent it. 

Such disasters were now coming on the Confederacy thick 
and fast, and mostly through the incapacity and failures of 
officials who had been placed in high command and responsible 
positions,- such officials of course had been favourites of the 
Government and got their appointments through influence ; 
whilst the newspapers, which of course lauded everything that 
the Government did, magnified them into heroes before they 
had in any way been put to the proof. 

The axiom that " the pen is mightier than the sword," may 
hold good in times of peace, but it may be looked at from 
another point of view and somewhat modified in time of war. 
The sword then governs and directs the pen, and the latter 
becomes merely a servant to the former. In other words, the 
pen may evoke war, but when war is instituted, the pen 
becomes subservient to the sword. 

I have heard in the midst of those desperate times the pen 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 367 

compared to a clamorous mob, who, in their cry for freedom, 
sets aside all established rules, law, and order, and subjects 
everything to their own blind will, and the first thing they do 
is to set up on high some power or personage who will lay 
upon their necks a yoke or chain to which they will unwit- 
tingly submit, and become to that power the most helpless 
^nd abject slaves. But these are political subjects which I 
know nothing about, and have nothing to do with, and I must 
return to my duty. I saw a group of men sitting at the back 
of a tent poring over something which they hid away on my 
•approach. 

" Holloa ! What is that you have got there, Jim ? " 
"What?" 

" Why that which you are hiding behind your back ? " 
" Oh nothing but a newspaper, sergeant." 
" Let me see it." 

" Let him see it, Jim," says another, " the sergeant is all 
right." 

I took the paper and looked over it. I saw it was a paper 
which had dared to maintain to a certain extent a little inde- 
pendence, and had ventured to criticise in somewhat severe 
though cautious terms the gross mismanagement of the Govern- 
ment, and the incapacity of some of their favourite officials to 
whom they had intrusted commands of great importance and 
responsibility. 

There was in it some reference to a special order or message 
issued by President Davis, in which it described, as a soother 
to the army, his statement that he had suspended Generals 
Floyd and Pillow ; some of the boys asking me if that meant 
that he had suspended them by the neck. 

This paper also referred to that arm of the Federal service 
which threatened to crush the South, and that was the naval 
power ; and in an ironical way referred to an assuring order, 
issued to the Confederate army, that all uneasiness on that 
point might now be set aside, as the Government had taken 
powerful measures to check any further advance of the Federal 
fleet, and for this they had created a Naval Department in 
the Cabinet, and had appointed a Secretary of the Navy, in 
the person of a Mr. Somebody, whose very name, the Govern- 
ment organs seemed to think, would soon send the Federal 
fleet to perdition. 

I was agreeably surprised to find that there were still some 



368 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

newspapers which dared to speak their minds, although in 
somewhat measured terms. 

I was told that such a paper dare not be seen in Bragg's 
division, as it had severely condemned some acts of brutality 
on the part of General Bragg, which were now the subject of 
general comment among the men. 

It seemed that there were in Bragg's division some regiments 
of volunteers from Tennessee, and one or two of those regi- 
ments were Avhat were called one-year's troops, having volun- 
teered for one year only, and their term of service was now 
expired. 

A great many of the men composing these regiments were 
men with families. They had made provision for their fami- 
lies when they left their homes for one year. But since that 
time the State had been overrun by the Federal troops, houses 
burned, crops and property destroyed and plundered, and 
families turned out of their houses, and their homes desolated. 

These men were of course very anxious about their families, 
and requested that as their term of service was now exjDired, 
they might be allowed to go home for a short time and see 
their families, and have them taken to some place of security ; 
after which they pledged themselves that they would return 
to the service. 

Bragg peremptorily refused. They then asked for furloughs, 
part of them only going at a time. This he also refused, and 
would not grant a furlough to anyone, even if it were to 
transact business for the others. The whole regiment then 
laid down their arms and refused duty. 

Bragg then brought up a strong force and surrounded them, 
and then directed a battery of artillery against them, and gave 
them five minutes to take up their arms and return to duty. 

The men sullenly obeyed, each muttering to himself that it 
would be but little service that he would ever get out of them, 
and this was true, as the sequel proved. 

A good many deserted, but some were caught attempting, 
or supposed to be attempting, to desert, and were summarily 
shot without any trial. 

The greatest tyrant that ever disgraced a position of power 
will always have his horde of sycophants to endorse and mag- 
nify his every act, and in this case a number, of course, 
including the Government organs, did extol Bragg for what 
they called his firmness and decision. But a far greater 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 369 

number denounced it as uncalled-for brutality, and unjust and 
improper treatment of volunteers. Even Beauregarde, when 
he came to know of it, was said to have disapproved of it, and 
considered it unnecessary harshness, and not calculated to 
promote either the strength or the loyalty of the army. 

But Bragg at that time was supposed to be fishing for 
favour at the War Department, and it was liinted that he was 
trying to undermine and supersede Beauregarde in the com- 
mand. He knew that this act would raise him in favour at 
the despotic Court at Richmond. Of course this was only 
talk among the soldiers, some few favouring Bragg, but more 
condemning him, and placing implicit confidence in Beau- 
regarde. 

Whether this act of Bragg contributed in any way to his 
being appointed, as he was shortly afterwards, to supersede 
Beauregarde, I do not know ; but Beauregarde's remarks, that 
such acts were not calculated to promote either the strength 
or the loyalty of the army, if he did make them, were to my 
certain knowledge strikingly correct ; and if such strong 
measures were necessary, as was asserted by some, the e^dl 
effects of them were clearly shown before many days were past. 

The numerous disasters which had now come on the Con- 
federacy were mostly incurred by mismanagement and corrup- 
tion at headquarters. The despotic tyranny of Jefferson Da\T.s 
and his minions — the Conscript Act and the brutality of Bragg 
were now beginning to show in dumb silence on many coun- 
tenances, but of course no one dared to speak publicly, no 
matter what they might think, and a superficial appearance 
of spirit and enthusiasm was still maintained, and it seemed 
to be now, as I have often seen it before and since, that 
public opinion collectively was one thing, and private opinion 
individually another; and nearly everyone of any judgment 
considered within himself that the enemy getting control of 
the Mississippi rendered the cause hopeless, and that further 
fighting was only to gratify a \indictive spirit or vain ambition. 

Another piece of news was now whispered through the 
army which created universal disgust. It was to the effect 
that the Confederate Congress at Richmond, ha\'ing heard 
that the Federal general, M'Lellan, was advancing upon 
Richmond, after passing the Conscript Act, had passed a bill 
to pay themselves their wages in specie, which they pocketed, 
and then broke up Congress and fled from Richmond. 

2a 



370 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

I may here say in advance, and I think with very good 
authority, that at this time, May, 1862, the state of affairs 
hung in the balance, and the total collapse of the Confederacy 
and the termination of the war would then and there have 
taken place but for two circumstances : — 

First, the sending of Butler to New Orleans by the Federal 
Government ; and 

Second, the transfer of the command of the Confederate 
army, in Virginia, to General Lee. 

The brutal tyranny of Butler in New Orleans filled every 
heart in the South with indignation, and seemed to foreshadow 
to them what they might expect if they surrendered to the 
authority of the Federal Government, and roused them to 
a determination to fight to the bitter end, while the noble 
character, the able management, and skilful generalship of 
General Lee and his brilliant successes inspired them with 
renewed confidence and hope, and prolonged the struggle for 
nearly three years. 

It was a few days after this act of General Bragg that I first 
observed something like secret disaffection among the troops. 

At some distance from the rear of the camp and within the 
woods there were a spring and a small creek where the men 
from different parts of the army came for water and to wash 
their clothes. To this place one evening about sunset I went 
to wash some clothes. On approaching the place I observed a 
number of men who had apparently come there for water or 
to wash, but who were sitting among the bushes near the 
spring, seemingly in earnest conversation. I could see that 
they were not all men of our division, but some of them were 
from other divisions, and could not have come there for water 
or to do washing. They did not observe my ajDproach, or did 
not pay heed to it, and I observed that they were discussing 
the state of affairs and the action of General Bragg, and I 
heard something like propositions that the whole army should 
break up in a general row and march off in bands, taking 
their arms with them ; and they seemed to be sounding the 
feeling among the different divisions. 

I pretended to take no notice of them, but proceeded to 
wash my clothes. Some of them then began to do the same, 
and the conversation became more general ; and the affair of 
the Congress breaking up, after securing for themselves their 
wages in specie, was brought up, and it was suggested that the 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 371 

army should now do the same thing. I asked if it was a fact 
that the Congress had broken up, when one of them handed 
me a newspaper, which was one of the proscribed papers, and 
which gave an account of the action of Congress, with some 
rather severe criticisms on that " IConourable Body." It also 
contained a piece of rhyme which I copied. It ran thus : — 

Cromwell his crop-eared soldiers sent 

Into the Barebones Parliament ; 

But, had he lived in modern times, 

When men make laws and love for dimes, 

He would find our Barebones much more docile 

Than Pim or any other fossil. 

Nor had he found a reason urgent 

To call a file of men and sergeant, 

But simply wait a brace of weeks, 

Till Barebones unto Bunkum speaks, 

Till, tabling other claims, those sages 

Had passed a bill to pay their wages; 

Pressed every man to warlike service, 

Except themselves — these statesmen nervous ; 

Then had he sent a courier foaming 

To cry, To arms, the foe is coming, 

Our Parliament would, sine moro, 

Evanish like a flock of sorro. 

From the general tone among the men I could see that 
disaffection was pretty far spread, and I would not have been 
astonished to have seen a general break-up. But within a 
day or two after this, newspapers were abundantly spread all 
over the camp, giving an account of Butler's actions in New 
Orleans, and his famous, or infamous, order in regard to 
treating females as "women of the town "was read out to 
every regiment on parade, and copies of the order extensively 
circulated. 

Butler and his acts were no doubt made the most of, but 
from every inquiry there was no room left for doubt as to the 
truth of the reports ; and in any way his acts and his language 
could be taken they could not fail to raise a feeling of indigna- 
tion, and the most disaffected became satisfied and seemed to 
think it better " to bear the ills they had than fly to others 
which they knew not of." The feeling of indignation which was 
roused by Butler's acts overcame in a great measure the dis- 
affection that had been fast spreading through the army ; and 
many were roused to a spirit of revenge, while the disaffected 
acquiesced, not that they hated Davis and his Bragg the less, 
but that they hated Lincoln and his Butler the more. 



372 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

It was now getting towards the end of May, and no appear- 
ance of a general battle, although fighting along the advanced 
line was getting heavier every day. We were about half of 
our time at the front; it was about two days on and two 
days off, and the two days off were always interrupted by 
various calls to the front in expectation of a general battle. 

The provisioning of the army was now most wretched ; such 
articles of food as were stintedly served out were of the 
poorest quality — moulded cow pease, and some half putrid, hot 
weather salted beef. 

This, however, we did not feel so much, and cared little 
about the rations served ; for, strange to say, in passing back- 
wards and forwards to the front, we went through large 
mounds of provisions lying along on each side of the railway, 
broken open, scattered about, and rotting in the sun and rain; 
barrels of flour, pork, and beef, lying in all directions with 
the barrel-heads knocked out by the wheels of the artillery 
striking against them, the contents mixing with the dust or 
mud, as the weather might be, while the hot sun soon putrified 
them, and the swarms of flies which covered them might be 
compared to one of the plagues of Egypt. Here the men 
obtained abundance in an irregular way, although the manner 
in which they obtained it must have involved indescribable 
waste. 

Along the side of the railroad were piled up like houses on 
the side of a street, several thousand large boxes of biscuits, 
supposed to have come from Charleston. These would have 
been a great acquisition and relief to the whole army if 
judiciously served out, but like the hundreds of tons of other 
provisions that lay rotting there, they were probably sealed up 
with red tape and departmental officialism. 

Whatever was the cause of them lying there, and the army 
in a state of starvation, we did not know, neither did we care. 
The treasure which the boxes contained was soon discovered. 
The butts of muskets, sabres, and bayonets were soon applied 
to break open the boxes, and the men of the different 
battalions passing to and from the front hastily filled their 
haversacks. 

This continued from day to day; the valuable biscuits were 
scattered and trampled on the ground, the rain fell and wet 
them, and they heated and smoked like the ruins of a line of 
building under the engine hose after a fire. The men still in 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 373 

going past had a dig at the diggings, as they called the mound, 
they quarried deeper and deeper into the heart of the pile to 
get at the dry biscuits, until nothing remained but a long 
ridge of broken boxes and rotten biscuits. 

About this time sickness broke out worse in the camp than 
it had ever been. The hospitals were already filled with the 
unhappy conscripts. But now a general complaint broke out 
in the form of a violent diarrhoea. This was said to have been 
caused by some transactions, which, if they were as represented, 
certainly merited the severest condemnation and punishment. 

A quantity of molasses was got up from Louisiana. This 
was an article which was greatly prized, and pure Louisiana 
molasses, if properly preserved, prepared and reboiled, is a 
good and wholesome article of food, and was always much 
used throughout the South, and indeed, throughout the whole of 
America, and it was now in great demand. 

When the first ration of this was issued to our company, I 
observed that it was a mass of foam — it was then fermenting 
and beginning to sour. Our men, being Louisianians, knew 
the article and could detect the defect. The stuff had been 
mixed with water and the hot weather had caused it to ferment, 
and it was not only unfit for food, but dangerous to health, 
and the story came out that the molasses had come in good 
order and of excellent quality, but the demand for it was so 
great outside of the ranks that the commissary had sold a 
large quantity of it for a high price, and then, to make up the 
deficiency in serving it out to the troops, had added water, 
and the hot weather caused it to ferment. 

Whether this was the case, and whether there would have 
been any inquiry into the matter, I do not know, but in the 
thickening of events at this time, and the change of commanders 
which took place shortly afterwards, it like many other 
corruptions was soon lost sight of in the general mess. 

It was now certain that the enemy had greatly advanced 
their position. They were approaching by parallel entrench- 
ments. They had now got their works so far advanced and 
their heavy guns into position that they could throw shells 
right into the centre of our eamp. 

The railway to Memphis on our left was no longer of any 
use ; it was therefore torn up, the bridges destroyed, and the 
line on our right leading to Charleston was found to be cut off, 
showing that the enemy had outflanked us on our right. 



374 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Our whole attention was now directed to the front, where 
the enemy commenced a regular bombardment, continuing it 
from daylight until sunset, with very few intervals, and it was 
getting heavier every day, our artillery replying with lighter 
guns from several redoubts in various places a little in advance 
of the line of our advanced guard. 

It was now almost a continued battle, the enemy every 
day and sometimes at night making attacks upon our 
advanced line of pickets. They sometimes brought forward 
batteries of light field guns, and raked the woods in the 
neighbourhood of our pickets, and frequently made charges 
with small bodies of cavalry, and sometimes an attack with 
infantry. In none of these attacks were they very suc- 
cessful. They were generally worsted, and sometimes pretty 
severely handled. 

For their light artillery we did not care a pin. The country 
was rough, and we lay down behind hillocks and large trees 
and cried to them to fire away, and some detachments of the 
New Orleans Washington Artillery generally gave them back 
their fire with good interest. When cavalry came upon us we 
got among the brushwood and brought them off" their saddles 
like crows off" a fence ; and if infantry advanced we fell back 
upon the reserve, where, if they followed, they got a hot 
reception, and were driven back with heavy loss. 

Nevertheless they still kept advancing their position. The 
tide of the war was now with them, and they were getting 
bolder and more confident, and they far outnumbered us in 
strength. But our men were now in fighting spirit, and the 
war-cry was " Butler," and they were eager to fight, and had 
the enemy come out of their entrenchments and fought in fair 
field the result would have been very doubtful. But they 
would not come out of their entrenchments and risk a general 
battle. They kept behind their works, which they continued 
to advance and hem us in. 

The pickets were pushed forward till within speaking dis- 
tance of each other, and I presume by a mutual agreement 
the firing between pickets was stopped except when attacks 
were made by larger bodies, and then the pickets fell back. 
A war of words was now indulged in between the pickets, and 
much banter was passed. 

The only beverage which our men had as a substitute for 
coffee was a decoction made from the roots of the sassafras tree, 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 375 

which grew thick in the woods. This we drank, and it was 
called sassafras tea. It was not an unpalatable nor, I believe,, 
an unwholesome beverage, but it was a poor substitute for 
coffee. On this the enemy's pickets bantered us much, asking 
if we had yet dug up all the sassafras trees in the woods, and 
asking if we would not like some coffee. 

We were glad to hear they had abundance of coffee, as we 
trusted that it would fall into our hands, as we intended to 
pay them a visit one of those days. So we said. They of 
course invited us to come. They then asked how about 
our conscripts, and how Bragg and the Tennessee boys were 
getting on, and said that some of our Tennessee boys who 
were now on their side desired to send their compliments to 
old Bragg. 

It was quite evident that they knew much more of the 
affairs of our camp than we suspected ; but the fact was, 
numerous desertions had taken place from Bragg's army, and 
though some were caught in the act and shot, that did not 
stop it, and desertions were taking place every day from those 
Tennessee regiments which Bragg had so brutally treated. 

On the 26th, 27th, and 28th of May we had been at the 
front, and during those three days the fighting had gone on 
almost incessantly. We were sitting down behind a hillock, 
near one of the advanced posts, when I tried to make a calcu- 
lation of the number of shots from heavy artillery that were 
being fired from the enemy's lines. This I made out to be a 
daily average of about 40,000. The fixed ammunition for 
each shot was said to cost about 10 dollars, making the expense 
of that fire about 400,000 dollars daily ; while, at the very 
outside, the total number on our side killed each day by that 
fiire did not exceed 100, thus costing for ammunition alone to 
kill each man about 4000 dollars. This calculation I showed 
to my friend Tim D., who was sitting near me. Tim, after 
verifying the calculation, said he thought war was all nonsense, 
and that Mr. Lincoln was very foolish to spend so much money 
making war, because he could have got them killed far cheaper 
without war. He knew, he said, plenty of fellows in Ireland,, 
and in America, too, whom Mr. Lincoln could have hired to 
kill them for the tenth part of that money without making 
war at all. 

On the 28th there was a pretty severe battle, in which one 
of the Texan regiments of our brigade lost about 200 men, but 



376 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

the enemy were driven back, and they retired within their 
entrenchments, and a lull took place. 

In the afternoon I was sent with a party of 1 2 men to take 
charge of an advanced post until six o'clock, when another 
regiment would come to relieve our regiment and we would 
get back to camp. 

All was quiet in front of our right wing throughout the rest 
of the afternoon. I thought it was a truce to bury the dead, 
as between the lines there were a great many dead, and the 
air was polluted for miles. I did not, however, see any 
appearance of this being done, and we still heard the distant 
firing away On our left wing. 

The relief party which should have come to us at six o'clock 
did not appear till about eight o'clock. It was now dark, and 
when we got back to the main line of the advanced guard the 
new guard was posted and our regiment was gone and our 
company with it. 

To where our camp was was more than three miles, and the 
whole space through the woods between us and it was blocked 
up by waggons, artillery trains, cavalry horses picketed, and 
other obstructions, and men sleeping on the ground, who would 
not be over ci\dl if we kicked against or tumbled over them in 
the darkness. We did not know the proper way, and we 
could never be able to find it in the dark, and we knew we 
would have nothing to eat when we did get back to camp. 
We therefore concluded to seek out a quiet, snug place in the 
woods and Lie down till daylight, and return to camp in the 
morning, when we could easily account for our absence. 

We kept in front of the guard line, where the wood was 
less trampled, and soon found a snug place under a large oak 
tree, where we rolled ourselves in our blankets and lay down 
beside our arms, and were soon asleep. 

We slept well, but imagined we heard throughout the night 
heavy movements, slow tramping of men, and slow rolling of 
wheels, but what was going on around us we neither knew 
nor cared. 

At early dawn we woke up much refreshed. We heard 
reveille beating, but that we knew to be in the enemy's camp, 
and as we did not intend to go there to roll-call we were in no 
hurry to get up. 

We did get up, however, and looked around to find our way 
to camp, but we could see nobody — all was quiet. We thought 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 377 

we had wandered further into the woods than we had expected, 
and began to fear that we might fall into the hands of the 
enemy. On looking round, however, we saw marks which 
showed where we were, but we found every place deserted. 
The advanced posts were deserted, and we went to some of the 
redoubts, but found them also deserted, and dummy guns 
placed in the embrasures. One of the men now declared that 
he remembered hearing, on the previous afternoon, one of the 
artillerymen say to another these words — " We are going to 
skedaddle from here this night!" 

It was now evident that the army had gone, but, where it 
had gone to we did not know. The situation was novel, and 
we rather enjoyed it. We went to a rising ground where we 
could get a good view, and climbed a tree to see the camp and 
the country around. We saw plainly that all was deserted, 
and everything was still as death. We then thought of 
reconnoitring parties of the enemy, but as they did not 
generally open fire from their entrenchments until about 
half-past seven or eight o'clock, they would not know of the 
departure of our army; and, no doubt, it was to deceive them 
on this point that dummy guns had been placed in the em- 
brasures at the redoubts. 

We now started to follow the army, intending on our way 
to go to the biscuit heap and try to dig up some good biscuit. 

As we proceeded along we heard voices and a movement in 
the wood. We went to the place and saw a number of men, 
between 200 and 300, who were lying on their arms among 
the bushes. We asked where the army had gone 1 

They said away south, by the railway line, towards Ripley. 
They asked why we were left behind ? 

We explained that we had been on picket-guard, and slept 
in the woods instead of going back to camp. I asked if they 
were the rear-guard ? 

Some said " Yes," and some said " No," and some told us 
to " Go on, and ask no questions." 

" I bet you I know who these fellows are," said Canada, 
who was with us, as we left them. " These are some of Bragg's 
Tennessee men dropping behind to skedaddle to their homes, 
and right they are." 

I thought from their wretched and haggard appearance that 
they were Bragg's men, and I did not disagree with him in 
his opinion. 



378 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

" I don't care," said he, "I will ask the next lot we come 
to, right out." 

" You had better not," said I ; "it is not our business ; we 
are no rear-guard to pick up stragglers, and we don't wish to 
give information, as we are bound to do, against deserters, 
especially men who are to be so much sympathised with as 
these Tennessee men ; and so long as we do not know what 
they are, we have nothing to do with them, and we have no 
business to ask." 

" I will give information against them," said he, " but by 
that time they will be far enough out of reach ; and I will 
just do it to annoy old Bragg." 

We got to the biscuit heap, and after digging deep into the 
rotten mass we came upon some sound biscuits, which we put 
into our haversacks. We then went towards the railway 
junction at Corinth. The whole of the cars and rolling-stock 
was gone, and much of the track torn up. The houses were 
not destroyed but empty ; many barrels of beef and pork with 
the heads knocked out lay along the line. The beef was 
execrable, but a piece of tolerable pork was picked up which 
we took along, intending to grill and eat it with our biscuit as 
soon as we got to the wooded country and away from this 
abominable place. 

We followed the railway southward, and at last got on to 
the track of the army. We had not gone far when we came 
upon another and larger body of men lying in the woods. 
This time there would be near 1000. We at first thought 
they were the rear-guard, but Canada pressed the question on 
them. They were quite indifferent and defiant, and said they 
were going no further with Bragg, and told us if we saw 
Bragg that day to tell him to come back and see them, and 
they would make a bargain with him. I quite believe they 
would, and it would have been a final settlement so far as 
Bragg was concerned. 

They said they were waiting for others who had yet to 
come and join them. They asked if we had seen many men 
north of the railway. We said only one lot. They said these 
were those who had been on the advanced guard, and they 
were going to hide in the woods there, until the Federals 
passed south of them and occupied Corinth, and then they 
would go to their homes in Tennessee. 

Throughout that day we met large bodies of men coming 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 379 

backwards of whom we learned how far the rear-guard was in 
advance. These men had dropped out of the ranks mostly 
in the night, and lingered in the woods until the rear-guard 
had passed, and then made their way back in the opposite 
direction. 

It had always been quite a common thing for men to straggle 
from the ranks on a march, but they always came up after- 
wards, and among volunteer troops such a thing as desertion 
was never dreamt of. But on reasoning with these men that 
day, they told us that they would sooner have died than done 
it while volunteers, but the case was now altered. They had 
served honourably their time as volunteers, but Avhen they 
were afterwards driven to serve by having artillery turned 
against them, they considered they were no longer volunteers, 
or by honour bound. 

This was the first instance of desertion that I knew of in 
the Confederate army, and it was upon an extensive scale. 
The Confederate Government and their organs tried to under- 
rate it and smother it as much as possible, and especially 
Bragg's action which caused it. They admitted the loss of a 
few hundred men who had been left behind; while the 
-Federal General Halleck declared that 15,000 men had 
deserted and surrendered their arms to him ; but this I think 
was exaggerated. I have no doubt from what I saw that 
several thousands dropped out and were left behind. 

We were in no hurry to overtake the army, as we could 
get along much easier and pleasanter by ourselves outside of 
the crowd. We bivouacked by ourselves for the night, and 
the folloAving day came up with the army, which at last took 
up a position at a place called Tupelo, about 35 miles south 
from Corinth, near the Mobile and Ohio railroad. 



CHAPTER XXYL 

EVACUATION OF CORINTH DISAPPROVED OF— BEAUREGARDE SUPERSEDED BY 
BRAGG— CAMP AT TUPELO— FURTHER EFFECTS OF BUTLER's POLICY— THE 
LADIES CUT UP THEIR DRESSES TO MAKE CLOTHING FOR THE SOLDIERS — 
SINECURE OFFICES — A GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR INSPECTING ARMS — 
EXPIRATION OF TERM OF SERVICE — DISCHARGE OF EXEMPTS — I LEAVE 
THE ARMY— RETURN TO BATON ROUGE— GUERILLA WARFARE— BOMBARD- 
MENT OF BATON ROUGE— HOW SECESSION AGITATORS KEPT THEIR FAITH 
—DISCUSSION WITH FEDERAL SOLDIERS ON THE QUESTION OF THE 
WAR— ARRIVAL AT NEW ORLEANS. 

The evacuation of Corinth and falling back to Tupelo was 
disapproved of by the Government at Richmond, and Beau- 
regarde was blamed for it and superseded by Bragg. 

There was, however, a great many who considered that any 
censure on Beauregarde was extremely unjust, and there must 
have been other reasons for placing Bragg in command. It 
required no great military knowledge to see that the position 
at Corinth was no longer tenable or of any great value to the 
Confederates, except so far as in keeping it from the Federals. 

Memphis being irrecoverably in possession of the Federals, 
it was of no use for communication with that place. The line 
to Charleston was in possession of the enemy, and that was of 
no value. There was no communication then left but the line 
direct to the South, and by moving South to a stronger 
position on that line, it was held more secure. It would, 
however, be of some value to the Federals if they could keep 
the lines to the east and west and to the north open. 

Corinth, with the railways cut off, Avas valueless as a place 
of defence, and it was certainly not a healthy position. Beau- 
regarde found himself outflanked by numbers, the railways cut 
off to the east and west, his rear threatened, and his army 
suffering from sickness. Out of 130,000 men nearly 20,000 
were on the sick list. The enemy had advanced their works 
so as to throw their shells into the centre of the position, and 
he could not bring them to a general battle, even against 
his inferior force. Tlie withdrawing of his forces was skilfully 
executed, and for the troops lost by desertion Bragg was 
entirely to blame. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 381 

Such was the opinion of many military men, and by many it 
■was considered that Beauregarde was altogether too mild and 
gentlemanly in his disposition to be in high favour with Davis 
and his cabinet, and the arbitrary measures of Bragg better 
suited the imperious policy they had adopted. 

The quietness of the camp at Tupelo contrasted strangely 
with the constant alarms and din of battle at Corinth, and it 
being now June, the shady position of the camp among the 
trees was a relief from the heat endured in the exposed camp 
at Corinth. We had no tents, but we had got accustomed to 
do without them. We made large huts or boAvers of green 
branches, which kept off the sun by day and the dew by night. 
The weather was now beautiful, with very little rain. The 
sick began to recover, and the men got their clothes washed 
and mended, and to add to their comfort, a large quantity of 
summer clothing arrived to be distributed among them. This 
did not come from the army bureau, through the quarter- 
master's department, but from the homes and families of the 
men themselves. This consignment was greatly augmented by 
" ladies' associations," which had now become a powerful factor 
in the administration of the war, and, thanks to the action of 
General Butler in New Orleans, the zeal now displayed by 
them was almost incredible. Nothing seemed to be too good for 
them to sacrifice. Beautiful silk dresses had been cut up and 
made into tunics for the soldiers. Rich shaAvls and plaids had 
been cut up and sewed together and bound to form blankets 
or wrappers, and seemingly everything which could be applied 
to the use of the soldiers was turned to account. 

Our regiment being from Louisiana came in for a fair share 
of these articles ; and on the follo\\ang Sunday morning, when 
the regiment turned out for parade inspection, they certainly 
presented a clean and neat, though somewhat fantastic, appear- 
ance ; and the pretty pictures, as they called them, on some of 
their beautifully-flowered tunics was the subject of a good 
deal of merriment. I could not help contrasting the difference 
in the men's appearance with the dirty, smoke-begrimed, 
ragged wretches that they were on the retreat after Pea Ridge. 
I think it was on this same morning that we became aware 
of another acquisition to the army in the appointment of still 
another Richmond official. It was, of course, a sinecure 
appointment, to provide for some hanger-on or minion. It 
was something in connection with the Inspector's Department. 



382 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

This branch of the service (if service it could be called) was 
known to be a sort of receptacle for all surplus office-seekers 
that could not be otherwise disposed of — in fact, a sort of 
waste-basket in which to throw all superfluities when the lobby 
got choked up and it became necessary to clear it. 

When this poor " critter " came on with liis credentials the 
appointment was to the old stand-by office of " assistant- 
inspector," with the rank of captain. So many had been 
appointed to this office that it had become a subject for laughter 
and joking about. Our assistant-inspector did not, however, 
regard it in that way. He had too much self-sufficiency, and 
came on with an air of great importance and pomposity, as 
one possessing the full confidence of, and ha\dng unlimited 
authority from, the imperial court at Richmond. But, then, 
Avhat the duties of his office were to be he did not know, and 
those who appointed him could not tell him. 

The officer to whom he had been ordered to report, seeing 
the nature of the appointment and not knomng where to place 
the new comer, referred him to the next in command, who 
again referred him to the next, and so on, and he was bandied 
about from one corps to another, until he had no doubt got 
irritated and perhaps his pomposity a little subdued. 

In the course of his rounds he had been referred to Colonel 
A. of our regiment, perhaps on account of the latter's new 
appointment making him the junior colonel of the brigade or 
perhaps of the division. 

Colonel A., if the junior colonel, was by no means the 
simplest, and he was equal to the occasion. 

He informed the newly-made inspector that he presumed his 
duty was to inspect the arms of the regiment, and, therefore, 
as there would be a general inspection on Sunday morning, he 
would parade the regiment for tliis purpose. 

Our assistant-inspector was now gratified that his position 
was acknowledged, and he had some idea of what his duties 
were to be, but he had not the least knowledge of the regular 
form and performance of an " inspection of arms," and probably 
thought that it would be like many other duties of sinecure 
offices — a mere ceremony, and that he would only take a look 
along the ranks and then express himself highly satisfied. But 
the colonel looked forward to having a little amusement. 

"Inspection of arms" was a part of the manual, and was 
always done by the company officers before drill, and also by 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 383 

orderly sergeants in all details or detachments before handing 
them over, and by one of the field officers at a " regimental 
parade and inspection," which generally took place every 
Sunday morning when not employed on more important 
matters. It was rather a pretty performance when well 
executed. Ranks were opened, bayonets fixed, rammers 
drawn and dropped into the guns, and the men stood at 
"order arms." The officer who inspected the arms began at 
the man on the right, and each soldier, as he approached, 
quickly brought up his piece into a position for the officer to 
take it, the butt of the piece resting against his left side, his 
left hand grasping the barrel forward of the lock, and the 
muzzle elevated and thrown slightly forward. The officer 
passed his right hand under the soldier's arm, seized the piece 
by the small part of the stock, stepped back two paces, 
examined the lock that it was clean, clicked and worked 
properly, examined the fixing of the bayonet, then shook the 
ramrod in the barrel to show that the barrel was empty and 
clean, and in the old-fashioned musket a sound, clear ring 
indicated that the barrel was clean and in good order. When 
the officer satisfied himself that the piece was in good order he 
stood in his place and threw it to the soldier, who caught it in 
the air with his right hand, and with one motion came to "order 
arms." This throwing of the gun by the officer and catcliing 
in an adroit way by the soldier had to be done in a particular 
way like a circus performance, and required a mutual con- 
fidence between officer and soldier. 

When Sunday morning came the regiment was formed for 
parade and inspection. When the usual manual had been 
gone through, it was formed into column by companies, ranks 
opened, and the order given to prepare for inspection of arms. 
The soldiers sprung their rammers, dropped them into their 
guns, and stood at " order arms." " Now, captain," said the 
colonel, addressing our new inspector, " you will please inspect 
arms." 

The inspector, who was arrayed in a brilliant captain's 
uniform, with shining buttons and gold lace in profusion, 
which completely out-did our boys with the pretty pictures on 
their tunics, now came forward. He looked nervous, and 
hesitatingly approached the front company, while the colonel 
preserved a grave countenance. The inspector went towards 
the centre of the company first, and began to look down at 



384 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

the arms as the men stood at " order arms," but not a man 
moved, and there was a dead silence — the men had been 
warned not to laugh. 

At length the inspector happened to come in front of the 
man on the right, where he should have begun at first. The 
soldier quickly brought up his piece to the position, the 
inspector started back in astonishment, and a roar of laughter 
burst from both officers and men. The colonel immediately 
ordered silence, and, going up to the inspector, asked him if 
he was not going to inspect the arms in the regular and proper 
way. The man had to acknowledge that he knew nothing 
about it, and would have to be instructed. 

The colonel, who was a thorough gentleman, undertook to 
show him, and taking a piece from one of the men, showed 
him how to examine it, and explaining to him as he rung the 
rammer in the barrel that a clear sound ring showed that the 
barrel was clear and sound, and adding, " Let me show you 
how to go through it. I will do this first rank for you." 

The colonel quickly passed along the first rank, taking each 
man's piece and stepping back nearly four paces, inspecting it 
and then throwing it back to the soldier, throwing it high in 
the air and with such precision, and the soldier catching it 
with such adroitness, that the transfer of the gun from the 
colonel's hands to an " order arms " by the soldier's side seemed 
to be one unbroken motion. 

The inspector feared to undertake the throwing of the gun, 
so the colonel told him just to hand it back to the soldier, and 
hinted to him to be quick, as the parade was lasting too long. 
He bungled along in any kind of way, trying to get through 
with it, amongst a good deal of tittering among the men, in 
which our company had just rather freely indulged, and as 
they were then the left flank company, they were the last 
to be inspected. He had observed them laughing, and was 
no doubt irritated. 

When he came to inspect the company the first rifle he tried 
did not ring, the rammer fell with a heavy thud. " That gun 
is dirty," said he to the man. The man was silent. The next 
was the same, and the whole company's arms were reported in 
bad condition. The captain declined to take the report, and 
told him to report to the colonel. The colonel coming up, 
looked at the arms, and asked what he found wrong. He 
replied that the guns did not ring. The colonel explained to 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 385 

him that these were Springfield rifles, which unscrewed at the 
breach, and therefore could not ring ; but, continued he, when 
you go with them on to the field of battle, you will hear them 
ring to your utmost satisfaction. 

Our inspector had little more to say, and we heard no more 
of him. He would, like hundreds of others, hold his sinecure 
appointment and draw his pay but keep out of danger, strut 
with his sword and uniform about hotels and cafes, visit 
private families, and pass among the ladies as a great warrior. 

The camp here seemed to be in a good healthy position, and 
the health and condition of the troops continued to improve, 
but there did not seem to be any appearance of active move- 
ment. The enemy made no further advance, and it was now 
the general conjecture as to what the next movement would 
be. Beauregarde had been superseded by Bragg, and the 
troops in general did not like the change. 

About the end of June the orderly sergeant, who had been 
elected to fill my place, came to take the position, which I 
handed over to him, and I got a temporary appointment as 
" Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of the Brigade." This 
was simply a sort of clerk to the adjutant-general, and consisted 
mostly of consolidating reports. The adjutant-general, who had 
been fonder of flying about as an aide-de-camp, than attending 
to his reports, had let them get very far behind. There was 
not much interesting in this work, except that I saw the weak 
state of the brigade, composed as it was of skeleton regiments, 
some companies not having more than 12 privates "present 
for duty," although having the full complement of officers and 
non-commissioned officers. Our own regiment had 133 officers, 
commissioned and non-commissioned, and only about 166 
privates, present for duty, and over 40 of these were going 
to be discharged under the Conscript Act. Of course there 
were a good many on detached service and on the sick list, 
but the aggregate was under 400; of course, these officers 
were only in name, they had, all under the rank of captain, to 
carry rifles and work as privates. 

About this time news came about the successes of General 
Lee and Stonewall Jackson, in Virginia; that the Federal 
General, Halleck, had gone to take charge of the defence of 
Washington ; that the Federal force in front of us, under 
General Grant, was being divided for some other movements ; 
and as some alterations and improvements were being made in 

2b 



386 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

our camp, and wells were being dug for a supply of water, it 
seemed as if we were to remain here some time. 

Having got through with my work of consolidating reports, 
I was ordered to get a list of all soldiers in the brigade who 
were not subject to military duty under the Conscript Act, and 
who had applied for discharge, and make out descriptive lists 
of them and their discharges. 

I may here say that ordinary writing paper had now about 
disappeared, and all the army forms and documents were made 
of some kind of home manufactured brown paper — something 
like that used by grocers in wrapping up goods. It was 
joyful news to the parties when I went to take their height, 
colour of hair and eyes etc., as they were beginning to fear, 
now that as Bragg had come into the command, they would be 
retained under some pretence. But probably Bragg had seen 
the effects of his former blind policy, and was trying to regain 
a little popularity. 

There was, in the whole brigade, about 130 who were 
entitled to discharges under the exemption clause of the act, 
and nearly every one took advantage of it. Our company had 
a large proportion of exempts — there being five under 18 years 
of age. 

The descriptive lists and discharges were all made out, of 
course including one for myself, and I was ordered to take the 
men to the provost-martial and have them sworn. This being 
done, he signed the preliminary to the discharges, attesting 
those to be entitled to discharge in terms of an act entitled 
an " Act for the Better Provision for the Public Defence." 

I now took them to the brigade commander, who spent 
some time in a long lecture, and used many arguments and 
persuasions, trying to induce them to change their minds 
and volunteer again for service instead of accepting their 
discharge, but he could make no converts, although they all 
promised to return again to service after a short holiday, 
which, I believe, most of them did, — but not under Bragg. 
He then signed the discharges, and the order for their pay for 
service, and an allowance in the way of mile money for trans- 
portation to the place where they were enlisted, and a pass to 
go as far as the lines of the Confederacy extended but no 
farther. 

My duty was now done, and we went to the paymaster and 
got paid in Confederate scrip, and we were civilians once more. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 387 

We now went and took good-bye with our old companions in 
arms, and got from them many greetings, messages, and letters 
to take to their friends at home. 

I must say that although I was heartily sick of the service, 
I still felt a little sorry to leave old friends with whom I spent 
many happy hours, and had come through many privations 
and dangers ; although it was true that there were but few of 
them left, in that both company and regiment were very much 
altered. 

We got by railway to Jackson, Mississippi, where we parted; 
those whose homes were in Arkansas, Texas, and Northern 
Louisiana, going to try to get by way of Vicksburg, while 
those of our company proceeded by railway to Camp Moore, 
which was on the New Orleans and Jackson railroad, about 
100 miles north from New Orleans, intending to cross the 
country from there to Baton Rouge. 

Before leaving Jackson, however, we heard news which 
startled us, which was that Baton Rouge was occupied by the 
Pederal troops, and that the town had been bombarded by the 
Federal gun-boats which had been lying in the river opposite 
the town, and that, too, without a moment's notice, and that 
houses had been destroyed, people killed, and women and 
children driven to the woods in consternation. 

This I was astonished to hear. For, although from all 
accounts nothing could be too diabolical for Butler to do, yet 
as regarded Admiral Farragut and the officers of his fleet, they 
were spoken of in the very highest terms for their honourable 
and gentlemanly conduct even amongst the most fiery South- 
erners. 

Camp Moore was as far south as the line was open ; the 
line between that place and New Orleans being torn up, and 
the bridges destroyed. 

Camp Moore had been a camp of instruction. Camp 
Walker, at New Orleans, where our regiment had been organ- 
ised the previous year, had been found to be unhealthy and 
unsuitable, and the camp of instruction had been removed to 
this place. It was now used as a rendezvous and training 
camp for conscripts, and there were now here of those unhappy 
men about 200 ; and about half that number of Government- 
appointed officers, who knew little more of military matters 
than the conscripts whom they were vainly trying to drill 
into soldiers. 



388 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



Of course we considered ourselves veterans, and did not 
deign to recognise such things as soldiers or oJffi.cers ; but we 
also knew that this was about the limit of the Confederate 
lines, and our passes did not take us beyond this, and there 
might be some difficulty in getting beyond into what was 
partly neutral territory. 

The distance from Camp Moore to Baton Rouge was about 
40 miles, and to the neighbourhood of the latter place we 
wished to go. 

We knew that these conscript officers were mighty men 
when at a distance from the enemy, and they would stand 
very high on their dignity if we in a humble way asked to get 
passed the lines. We knew, therefore, that the only way to 
get passed was by some device, and that we could easily 
contrive, as we saw that both the men and their officers were 
perfectly raw, and knew little or nothing of guard or picket 
duty, and we easily passed the pickets under the guise of a 
reconnoitring party. 

When we got within 20 miles of Baton Rouge, one or 
two of our party were near their homes, and we called at the 
house of a gentleman with whom most of us were acquainted, 
where we learned the particulars regarding the bombardment 
of Baton Rouge. 

The town had been bombarded and considerable damage 
done to property, but few people had been hurt ; the blame 
lay, not with the Federal fleet, but with the Confederate 
Government, or rather with a band of miscreants, which, 
if the Government did not actually organise and direct, they 
at least tolerated and acknowledged to a certain extent. 

These were a band of lawless men who had with a view of 
evading conscription organised themselves into a body of what 
they themselves termed rangers or guerillas. They were 
mounted on horses and armed, but without order or discipline, 
and under pretence of making raids upon the enemy, preyed 
upon the helpless inhabitants, and took especial care never to 
come within range of the enemy's fire. They were obnoxious 
to the peaceful country people on whom they committed out- 
rages, and the latter on several occasions had accused them of 
cowardice in bullying over helpless people, but dared not face 
the enemy. 

Some of the Federal gunboats had ascended the river, and 
anchored off Baton Rouge, and a small body of troops had 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 389 

landed and taken possession of the garrison and arsenal, all 
the Confederate troops having previously retreated from the 
neighbourhood. The Federal troops, after formally taking 
possession, returned to New Orleans, but the gunboats still 
remained in front of the town, the garrison and arsenal being 
under the range of their guns, as also the town. 

A not unfriendly feeling existed between the officers and 
crews of the gunboats and the inhabitants of the town, who 
generally respected Farragut and his officers, and boats passed 
frequently between the gunboats and the shore ; and it seems 
the officers and crews had been in the habit of sending ashore 
clothes to get washed. 

One afternoon a boat, containing some unarmed men, had 
been coming ashore on that business, when a band of about 60 
of these guerillas, headed by a notorious bully, thinking no 
doubt to cast off the stigma of cowardice which had been 
attached to them, hid themselves behind a wall near the place 
where the boat would land ; and as soon as it touched the 
bank the gang fired from behind the wall at the unarmed men, 
but fortunately not doing them much injury. 

The officers on the gunboats seeing their men fired upon by 
a force on shore immediately opened fire upon them, but the 
cowardly miscreants mounted their horses and rode into the 
midst of the fleeing inhabitants, selecting groups of terrified 
women and children, into whom they galloped, trampling many 
of them under foot, supposing that the gunboats would not 
direct their fire amongst the women and children. 

The gentleman who related this to us was a respectable and 
somewhat substantial farmer who had previous to the war been 
a strong Union man ; but, nevertheless, he had two sons and a 
son-in-law in our regiment, from whom we had brought letters. 
He said the country was infested by these scoundrels, and they 
might annoy us as we went towards Baton Rouge. Five of us 
were going to within four miles of Baton Rouge, and we were 
unarmed, but, if we had arms, we would not care for a whole 
troop of them ; and I asked if it would be possible to borrow 
some arms among the settlers, who were generally well provided 
with them, and we were boiling with rage at the cowardly 
villains. He said the guerillas had, in large bands, searched 
every house for arms, and taken away everything that bore 
the shape ; and this was, no doubt, to make the inhabitants 
more helpless that they might prey upon them with impunity. 



390 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

He advised us to wait and have some dinner and then 
proceed in the cool of the evening, and if we got within seven 
miles of Baton Rouge we would be beyond the range of the 
guerillas, as Baton Rouge was now, since the bombardment, 
occupied by Federal troops, and guerillas never ventured 
within seven miles of an armed enemy. 

We accepted his invitation to stay for dinner, but just as 
we were sitting down to table one of his younger sons came in 
and said that some guerillas were galloping up the road and 
coming direct to the house. 

Our host desired us to sit still and he would go out and talk 
to them ; as there were only five or six of them they would not 
be very bold or intent on any outrage. 

He went out and met them. They were in a fearful state 
of consternation, and fleeing for refuge. They told a sad story 
of a terrible defeat, and probable overthrow of the Confederacy. 
Their army, as they called it, had been that morning defeated 
and cut to pieces by a large force of the Federal troops, which 
had advanced from Baton Rouge, and they alone had escaped 
to tell the tale. 

Our host, who had been listening to their sad story, and 
seeing that their attitude now was anything but hostile, made 
a motion for us to come out, saying to them that here was a 
party of men from the regular army who might probably have 
something to say on the matter. 

We were wishful to get a sight of those redoubtable warriors, 
and came out to the gallery to have a look at them. 

Their appearance was anything but formidable — a more 
scared and abject-looking set of wretches it would be difficult 
to describe. The day was sweltering with heat. Their horses, 
lean with bad care and worse usage, were foaming with per- 
spiration and staggering under them. They themselves, pale 
and terror-stricken, were shaking from actual fear. On seeing 
us appear they got more frightened, and seemed inclined to 
ride off*, but I, as representing the captain of the party, ordered 
them in an authoritative tone to stand still and report the 
particulars of the battle. It was easy to be seen that these 
were no leaders of the gang. 

I questioned them as to their leaders, but they said that 
they always took the best horses and had outstripped them in 
the flight, and they believed that by this time they would be 
across the Amite River. I then questioned them about the 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 391 

battle. They could give no account of where it had taken 
place, but that it was somewhere this side of Baton Rouge. 

" What was the amount of the enemy's force ? " 

That they could not tell, but supposed that it could not be 
less than 40,000. [We had here to stop the boys from 
laughing.] They added that the enemy had a great lot of 
cannons, and asked if we did not hear the firing of cannons, 

" How many men did they have killed 1 " 

That they could not tell, but they knew there must have 
been plenty. 

Further questioning brought out that they had not seen the 
enemy at all, but had heard the firing of artillery and thought 
they heard the shot rattling among the trees. 

Our host, who knew some of their friends, told them that 
they had got into bad company, and advised them to go home, 
and if they wanted to fight for the Confederacy to go and join 
the regular army like men and give up the cowardly guerilla 
system, and they went off" promising to do so. 

Having had dinner and some rest, we proceeded on, two of 
our party expecting to reach their homes the same night. 

The following day we got to within four miles of Baton 
Rouge, and our party was reduced to two — myself and one of 
the youngest of the boys, and we wished to go into the town. 

The town was occupied by the Federal troops to the number 
of about 7000 and surrounded by a picket guard; and, although 
we had our discharges in our pockets and they could not make 
us prisoners of war, yet we did not want to be arrested by the 
picket guard and led as prisoners into the town, and, as we 
considered we were old hands, we would evade the pickets and 
get past them in some way. 

The lad had friends who lived about two miles from the 
town, and to their house we went. These people were farmers, 
and were in the habit of driving into the town daily with milk 
and produce, and they undertook to get the lad past the pickets, 
and I learned from them that one of the posts was at the wood 
factory on the river belonging to our business firm. 

I then went to the house of a planter which was near the 
river bank, about half a mile above the factpry, and with whom 
I had always been friendly. He was astonished and glad to 
see me, and as he had a standing pass he went into the town 
and brought out my partner, who, owning the works where 
the picket was placed, had also a standing pass. I then 



392 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



changed my clothes and foraging cap for a suit of a more 
civilian cut, and walked with my partner into the works, and 
we walked about as if looking at various things pertaining to 
them. 

The works were stopped and all business at a stand. The 
guard station was on the river bank, about the middle of the 
works, and they used the gallery of the office as a shade from 
the sun and rain. The guard were Germans, ignorant, and 
could scarcely speak English, but full of importance and 
swagger. My partner held out a piece of paper to them, and 
I did the same ; the papers looked like passes, and we knew 
they could not read them, but they knew him to be the owner 
of the place. We kept looking at things and talking as if on 
business, and eventually passed on into the town. 

As we passed the garrison and ordnance ground, I could see 
it was filled up with troops and the ground covered with tents. 
Several of the regiments were on parade at the time. Their 
troops were not in better training than ours, nor indeed so 
good, as our old volunteer regiments, but they were much 
better equipped, and certainly had the appearance of being 
much better fed, clothed, and quartered. 

On our way through the principal street we went into a 
large cafe, where a number of Federal officers were assembled 
drinking and playing billiards, with whom, on terms seemingly 
of the highest friendship, were several of the same fiery 
politicians who eighteen months before in the same spot had 
so loudly advocated secession and war, and pledged themselves 
to fight and die in the cause. I felt so incensed at their 
treachery, and having now become bold and pugnacious, that I 
would certainly have gone up to them and publicly charged them 
with their treachery and cowardice, but my partner restrained 
me, and reminded me of the position I was in, and the way I 
had entered the town, and that it would be necessary for me 
to go to the provost-martial and report my arrival, and then I 
should go as soon as possible to New Orleans and get a certifi- 
cate from the British consul that I was a British subject ; 
this being the way that all foreigners who had not become 
naturalised citizens of the United States had done, and it was 
absolutely necessary in those troublesome times. 

It was now night ; we went home. I stayed that night at 
my partner's house, and in the morning I went to the provost- 
martial's office and reported. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 393 

The provost-martial asked to see my discharge, which I pro- 
duced, and he recorded the name. He asked me if I would 
take the oath of allegiance to the United States. I said no. 
He then asked me if I would accept a parole. I said no, that 
I was a British subject and would go to New Orleans and con- 
sult the consul. He said it was well that I had reported, as 
he had been apprised of my having come into the town, and 
was just going to have me arrested. I then knew that some,of 
the parties whom I had seen in the cafe on the previous 
evening had given the information, and I said so to him. He 
Avould not tell me who had given the information, but said it 
was one who had been very active in promoting secession. I 
asked him if he trusted such traitors. He said no, but he 
wished to let us know how these advocates of secession had 
kept their faith. He then asked me about the Confederate 
army at Tupelo. I said I would give him no information. 
He then asked me if I had seen any guerillas, of whom he 
seemed to have an intense hatred. I said I would give him 
every information I could about them as I did not recognise 
them as any branch of the Confederate service, or as men 
engaged in any kind of warfare. I then related the terrible 
scare they had got two days before, and said they (the Federal 
troops) would confer a great favour on the peaceful inhabitants 
for 20 miles around if they would go once or twice a week 
a mile or two into the country with a few pieces of artillery 
and fire off a few rounds of blank cartridge, as that would 
frighten every guerilla from the neighbourhood and drive them 
away across the Amite River. 

He la^ughed at the suggestion, and asked if the Confederate 
Government recognised them. I said I could not tell as I had 
never heard of them until I came within 20 miles of Baton 
Bouge. 

I then left him and took a look round the town, and called 
on the families to whom I had letters and greetings from their 
sons and friends in the army, and received visits from old 
friends who had been members of the company, but who had 
retired or had been discharged on account of wounds or bad 
health, among whom was our old major, who had suffered 
much from the campaign and now looked 10 years older. 
His son, who had left us when we were mustered into service, 
was preparing to go and join the company if he could get out 
past the pickets. 



394 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

The people of the town in general had not on the whole a 
great deal to complain of from the behaviour of the occupying 
troops. 

The general in command, General Williams, was a brave, 
upright, and strict officer, and did not allow any insult or 
outrage to be committed on the inhabitants, and the notorious 
Butler had not ventured to go beyond New Orleans. 

I had a great desire just to see this personage of whom I 
had heard so much, for all accounts seemed to agree as to his 
infamous character. 

I looked along the town to see the effects of the bombard- 
ment. It had been pretty severe. Large shot-holes were to 
be seen in many of the houses, and along the street fronting 
the river they were thickly pitted with the marks of grape and 
canister, and it seemed a miracle that so few people had been 
injured. 

One gentleman told me that a shot passed through his house 
and smashed the gas meter, and the gas issued so rapidly that 
he, with his family, had barely time to get out and escape 
suffocation. He did not know where to run to for safety; 
but he remembered that a dry ditch ran along the side of his 
garden. Into this he got with his family, where he made 
them lie down, while the shots continued to whiz over them. 
But in this they were not allowed to remain. 

Between the ditch and the boundary wall was a row of 
beehives, and a shot taking a bee line, as he called it, knocked 
down the whole row of beehives, and tumbled them with their 
tenants down into the ditch on the top of him and his family. 

The bees, angry at being disturbed, stung most furiously, 
and they had to get out and run for their lives. Threatened 
by cannon shot, suffocated by gas, stung by bees, he did not 
know what to do next. Fortunately the firing then ceased, 
but he considered himself singularly unfortunate. 

About the third day after I got to Baton Rouge, I found a 
steamer going to New Orleans, and I got a passage on her. 
The steamer was an ordinary river passenger boat, but carried 
two light howitzers on her hurricane deck, and a company 
of riflemen, on account of the guerillas who on one or two 
occasions had hid behind the river embankments and fired 
upon unarmed vessels, and it was presumed that the appearance 
of a gun on the upper deck would be sufficient to frighten 
them away. 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 395 

As soon as it became known to this rifle company that I 
had served in the Confederate army, they were exceedingly 
friendly, and welcomed me as a soldier, even if I should be 
a secesh, as they called the Confederates, being a corruption 
of the word secession. There were two Scotchmen among 
them, and we talked of the singularity of the position which 
thus made us enemies and opposed to each other. Many 
of the other soldiers were intelligent men, and joined in the 
conversation. 

They brought up the subject of the guerilla warfare, which 
was the cause of them being on the steamer, and accused the 
Confederate Government of maintaining such a system of war- 
fare. I said I doubted much if the Confederate Government 
recognised it, and thought they might safely treat as outlaws 
any they caught, and hang them. 

The general question of the war was next discussed. I 
maintained that, although I had been fighting for the Confed- 
eracy against Northern aggression, I was not a votary of 
slavery. I had no interest in it, or connection with it, but 
was rather opposed to it, and that a very large number in the 
South were opposed to it, although on quite difierent prin- 
ciples from the New England political Abolitionists. Those 
opposed to it in the South had never yet expressed their senti- 
ments openly in politics, but their influence would soon have 
been felt, and as the white population increased, the institu- 
tion would die out of itself as it had done and was still doing 
in the Middle States. 

They most emphatically repudiated the insinuation that 
they were fighting to abolish slavery ; that were such a thing 
in any way sought to be embodied in the principles for which 
they were fighting, they would rebel and lay down their arms ; 
and some of them were ofiended that such an insinuation 
should be thrown out by me. 

Then what were they fighting for 1 I asked. 

"For the Union j to maintain the integrity of the Union, 
and nothing else." The question of slavery they maintained 
had nothing to do with the question for which they were 
fighting. 

" Then when you were so wishful to preserve the Union," 
said I, " why elect a president that was obnoxious to a part 
of the Union, and whose election might lead to a rupture. 
Whatever may be the question before us now, there can be 



396 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

no doubt that the question of slavery, and the election of 
Mr. Lincoln as affecting the slavery question, caused the rup- 
ture and dissolution of the Union. Would it not have been 
more patriotic of Mr. Lincoln to have said. If my election 
should tend to endanger the Union, I mil rather retire than 
be the cause of a rupture or dissolution of the Union 1 " 

" No, no," they replied vigorously, " that would be conced- 
ing to the South the right to approve or disapprove of any 
president we might elect. Had Mr. Lincoln been an Aboli- 
tionist, it would have been a different matter, and the South 
might have had some reason to complain. But, had he been 
an Abolitionist, he never would have been elected. His 
views on slavery were moderate, and he was opposed to inter- 
fering with slavery in the States where it already existed, and 
the act of the States in seceding for such a frivolous cause was 
unjustifiable." 

" I quite agree with you," said I, "in so far as the States 
were not justified in seceding. But you must admit that 
under the Constitution there seemed to have been no power to 
prevent them. And that is the important point that I wish 
to come to. The secession, so far as Louisiana was concerned, 
was not carried out by the unanimous will of the people, but 
by the machinations of a set of scoundrel pohticians, some of 
whom I now see hob-nobbing with your officers in Baton 
Rouge. You are, I presume, now fighting to uphold the 
Federal authority. But when the helpless people were crushed 
under the feet of those unprincipled usurpers who had pos- 
sessed themselves of the arsenals and arms, where was the 
Federal authority then ? Had one of those ships which are 
now lying at Baton Rouge been sent there when these politi- 
cians went through their mimicry of secession, the whole thing 
would have been crushed in the bud. The people would have 
respected the Federal authority, and the integrity of the Union 
been preserved. But what is the use of talking of Union and 
Federal authority when that authority does not protect the 
people, maintain the constitution, or enforce the laws. 

" Oh," answered they, "as to the States having the right to 
secede that is questionable, and at best only arose from an 
oversight or slight omission in the constitution. But it has 
all along been the unwritten constitution and a long cherished 
principle both North and South. And as to the imbecility 
•of the Federal authority, that was the fault of Buchanan's 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 397 

Government, for which Mr. Lincoln was not responsible, for 
as soon as he got into power he took steps to enforce the 
Constitution." 

" No," said I, " I do not admit that. He got into power on 
the 4th of March ; every day then was adding to the strength 
of the Secessionists and increasing the danger, yet he took no 
steps or gave any indication of what steps he would take until 
after the middle of April, when he issued his proclamation, 
giving the ultimatum of submission or the sword, which roused 
the South to a man, and sent into the field the former Union 
and law-abiding people, who are now fighting the battles of 
the South." 

" Talking of the proclamation," said they, " that was after 
the bombardment of Fort Sumter. What do you think of 
that act 1 Do you approve of it, or did you consider it 
justifiable ? " 

" Gentlemen," said I, " I wish you to remember that I 
think I am speaking the minds of the moderate or Union 
party of the South, as the sentiment was at that time, and I 
did not approve of it ; because it was a foolish act, and was 
just playing into the hands of Mr. Seward, who sought to 
bring it about so as to rouse the Northern people, and I do 
not consider it justifiable. But still I consider it no more an 
outrage than the seizure of the arsenal at Baton Rouge, or 
any other of the arsenals or forts in the South ; which had 
been done without protest or interference of the Federal 
Government." 

At this time the steamer stopped at Donaldsonville, and 
orders were sent on board to the commander of the detachment, 
and our discussion was brought to a close, the troops having 
got orders to prepare to land with their arms. 

When I was told this, and saw them preparing, I said to 
them, in a jocular way, that if it was to fight guerillas they 
were going ashore, I would be very happy to join them, if they 
would give me a rifle, just to show them how I was opposed to 
the barbarous system of guerilla warfare. I was told, how- 
ever, it was not that, but that upon two sugar estates, a little 
way down, the slaves had revolted, and refused to work, and 
they were going ashore to coerce them, and put down the revolt. 

I said that if this was the case I would have nothing to do 
with it, for, although I was a Confederate soldier, I would 
never take up arms to maintain or enforce slavery ! 



398 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



This, of course, produced a loud laugh, with exclamations of 
" Very good for you, secesh ! " 

In a short time the steamer arrived at the plantations 
referred to, and was run into the river bank and the troops 



landed. I thought 



might as well go along and see what 



would be done. The plantations were right on the river bank 
and adjoining each other. The troops were marched up to the 
quarters where the negroes were assembled, headed by some 
plantation negro lawyers, who were the ringleaders. These 
immediately began to set forth their grievances, but the officer 
told them he had nothing to do with their grievances. He was 
simply there to enforce the laws of the State, and if they 
thought that the Federal troops were in Louisiana with the object 
of freeing the slaves they were very much mistaken, and if 
any of them thought or tried to take advantage of this war to 
stir up any revolt or disobedience to their masters they would 
be severely punished. 

Some of the ringleaders were then seized and put into the 
stocks, exclaiming as they went along — " My Got ! Dis is 
more worserer dan Jeff. Davis ! " The others were ordered to 
take up their hoes and proceed to their work, and the troops 
again embarked. 

" Now," said several of the men to me, after they had got 
on board, " does that look like fighting to emancipate the 
slaves 1 I think you will be satisfied now that we are not 
fighting to abolish slavery." 

I said that " whatever might be the cause of the war, or 
whatever might be the issue, the act I had seen done was a 
very judicious one, and necessary for the present at least." 

Any further discussion only led to the conclusion that the 
war was brought on by politicians, who were now keeping out 
of danger and fattening on the spoils. 

When I got to New Orleans I found that the regular consul 
was absent on leave, but there was a gentleman acting as 
consul. On my producing the necessary testimony he gave me 
a certificate, testifying that I was a British subject ; but he 
informed me that the certificate would be of no use or protec- 
tion, if I violated neutrality. 

I then looked about for a day or two to see the state of 
things under Butler's rule. 



SECTION IV. 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAE, 



I 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

NEW ORLEANS UNDER BUTLER's RULE — MODE OF EXACTING RANSOM FOR 
TREASON— BATTLE AT BATON ROUGE— REFUGEES CONVERTED TO UNIONISM 
RECONVERTED BY BUTLER— HIS OBSEQUIOUS FOLLOWERS— SOCIALISM AND 
SERVILISM— A COMPULSORY INTERVIEW WITH THIS PERSONAGE— HIS 
PRETENDED DEFIANCE OP FOREIGN POWERS— INCREASED HATRED BETWEEN 
THE PARTIES— DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY AT BATON ROUGE— ESCAPE FROM 
NEW ORLEANS. 

I SOON found that a perfect reign of terror prevailed in New 
Orleans. No one was for a moment certain of his liberty. 
It was no doubt true that when the Federal troops first 
occupied the city, there had been some demonstrations of 
disrespect or incivility made towards them. But these did 
not proceed from the peaceful inhabitants in general, but from 
a number of political loafers and secession spouters, who had 
been instrumental in bringing on the war, but took good care 
not to join the army, or take part in the dangers of the 
hostilities they had created. Instead of leaving the city, and 
keeping within the Confederate lines, they preferred to remain 
within the Union lines, where they would be free from con- 
scription, and show their zeal and patriotism by hissing and 
hooting at the Federal troops, and then if arrested they would 
be able to pose as martyrs, by having suffered imprisonment 
for the Southern cause. 

These people, however, Butler did not much notice except 
when one of them, in great braggadocio, pulled down the 
United States' flag from where it had been hoisted on the 
Mint ; for this Butler hanged him. 

This was certainly a rather high-handed and questionable act, 
and a good deal was said about it. It took place before I 
went to New Orleans, and I never knew the exact particulars. 
But I heard it often said that this was perhaps not Butler's 
worst act, and that if he had applied the same rope to a 
few more of that class, no very serious loss would have been 
entailed upon society. 

But such were not the class of men that Butler marked out 
for his victims. Such men had no substance, and there would 

2c 



402 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



got from 



not be much to be 
verted and become useful 
to the more respectable 
possessed of some means, 
be obtained. 

With them it did not 
hissing, hooting, or groanin 



them, and they might be con- 
to him. He directed his attention 
and substantial class, who were 
and from whom something was to 



require any demonstration such as 
g to warrant an arrest — a mere look 
or smile of irony was sufficient, and it was said that it got to 
be that no cause at all was required, beyond the possession of 
money, or other portable valuables. 

No man, let his conduct be what it might, was certain, when 
he rose in the morning, whether he might or might not spend 
next night in jail. 

I quote a case of which I knew many similar : — 

A man is sitting down to breakfast with his family ; he is 
a merchant of considerable means, and has a store and warehouse 
well stocked with goods ; while at breakfast a party of soldiers 
marches up to his door, and he is ordered to come along. 
He is not told of any charge against him, and he is not allowed 
to ask any questions. He is taken off to Butler's bastile. 
No charge is made against him — no trial, no prospects of 
his release. He is suspected of treason, and his arrest is 
necessary for the common good. His weeping family are left 
behind, a guard is put upon the house, and no one is allowed 
to go in or out. The house is of a high class and richly 
furnished. 

In a few days an official comes along and takes an inventory 
of the property, mercantile goods, and house furniture of the 
party arrested, which are supposed to be confiscated. 

The wife, who has never been allowed to leave the house, 
naturally grasps at anything from whence the slightest 
information may be obtained, and would eagerly inquire if he 
knew anything about her husband. " What was the charge 
against him ? Where was he confined ? Would he get a trial ? 
How long would he be likely to be confined ? " 

Alas ! he could tell nothing of the charge. These were 
terrible times ; black treason was rampant. It was no doubt 
considered that the arrest was necessary for the public good. 
He could not say where he was confined, but most likely he 
would be in the casemates of Fort Jackson. He might be 
there a very long time ; the chance of his release was very 
small indeed. 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR, 403 

" Good God ! " screams the lady ; " in the casemates of Fort 
Jackson ! Oh horrible ! he will soon die there." 

" I can quite believe you, madam." 

" O Lord, have mercy upon me ! Can nothing be done to 
save him ? Would not money do it ? I would sacrifice every 
dollar I have in the world. But oh ! I must save him ! " 

" Money will sometimes do a great deal ; but I fear the case 
is hopeless. General Butler is a stern man, and nothing will 
move him. The times are desperate, and desperate measures 
are resorted to." 

" O Lord, help me ! Surely something can be done to get 
him justice. Do tell me if there is any chance. I will not 
grudge any amount ; I will sacrifice all I have." 

" Well, madam, I can do nothing for you ; but you might 
try some of those gentlemen who have influence at head- 
quarters. Perhaps they might be able to do something for 
you if you go rightly about it." 

" Oh tell me who they are and w^here I might see them ! " 

" Well, you might see Judge M. at such a place ; but don't 
say that I told you about him, and, mind you, it is a very 
dangerous thing to go about, and you must make no inquiries, 
but answer every question he puts to you. It will take a 
great deal of money, but you must not higgle about that. I 
don't say that he will get your husband released — that will 
depend upon the nature of the charge against him ', but, if any 
man can do it, he can." 

" When can I see Judge M. *? " inquires the lady eagerly. 

" Well, the best time to see him will be about three o'clock 
in the afternoon. Not to-day, because I think he will not be 
at his office, but to-morrow at that time you might see him ;" 
and, so saying, he takes his leave. 

The said official, who has by this time pretty well measured 
the extent of the distressed lady's means and the depth of her 
anxiety about her husband, has an interview with the so-called 
Judge M. and apprises him how the land lies. 

The poor lady, after passing a sleepless night, counts the 
minutes till three o'clock on the following day, and before that 
hour she is at the chambers of Judge M. After waiting: about 
an hour in the ante-room, she is admitted into his presence. 

Judge M., who is "as mild a mannered gentleman as ever 
scuttled ship or cut a throat," is not, as the word would imply, 
a dispenser of justice in the legal sense of the term. He was 



404 LIFE IN THE CONFEDEEATE ARMY. 

what was known at that time as a sort of passport and pardon 
broker. He was not in partnership with Butler (as Butler 
would have no partners — he reserved the whole of the plunder 
for himself), but he knew Butler's price, and he must extort 
his commission from his unfortunate clients. He receives the 
lady in his blandest manner and with extreme commiseration. 
He explains that the charges against her husband are of a 
very serious nature, and he fears it will be a very difficult 
matter to obtain his release ; her husband may be innocent — 
indeed he had no doubt of it, but then information had been 
laid against him which must be acted upon. He had no doubt 
that the information had been laid by those whom her husband 
had supposed to be his good friends, men who professed strong 
Southern proclivities, and had been instrumental in stirring 
up this rebellion. It was through such men by means of enor- 
mous bribes that information was obtained of those who were 
sympathisers and movers in the rebellion, and whose arrest 
and confinement were considered necessary for the public 
good ; and as such a system of intelligence was kept up at an 
enormous expense, and no adequate provision was made by the 
Government for this intelligence department, it had in a great 
measure to be self-sustaining. Therefore any movement in the 
matter would be attended with enormous expense. It was no 
doubt much to be regretted that for security it was necessary 
to confine political prisoners in Fort Jackson, where their 
health was so much endangered. It was true that after a 
certain time they would be sent to Fort Lafayette, at New 
York ; but if once sent there all hopes of their release might 
be abandoned. 

The poor lady, who is too agitated and engrossed in her 
husband's safety to see in her counsellor a quondam fiery 
secession demagogue, or to fathom his drift, half screams out 
an inquiry of what the terms for his release would be. 

He blandly informs her that there is no such thing as terms. 
The thing would have to be gone about in the most deKcate 
and intricate way, requiring large sums of money for every 
movement, which of course he was not at liberty to disclose, 
and she must bear in mind that they were now in the midst 
of dreadful times. But to cut the matter short, if she would 
bring to him a sum of say 7000 dollars, he would try what 
could be done with it; but she must bear in mind that 
she must keep the matter strictly private and make no 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 405 

comments or inquiries, as the slightest comment would lead 
to her husband's perpetual imprisonment ; and if his release 
was effected, any remarks on the manner in which it was done 
would lead to his immediate rearrestment. 

The lady takes her leave, and strains every exertion to 
obtain the 7000 dollars, which she hands to Judge M., who 
promises to do his utmost endeavours to get her husband 
released, who after a few days might be set free on taking 
the oath of allegiance to save his property from confiscation. 

This is no overdrawn picture, but an actual occurrence, and 
several such cases came under my personal observation. I 
found the reports that had been circulated about Butler's 
actions were in no way exaggerated. 

I was preparing to return to Baton Rouge, when I was 
astonished to find that I would not be permitted to leave, and 
that no one was now allowed to go to that place, as it was 
reported that a battle had been fought there, an attack having 
been made on the town by the Confederate troops under 
General Breckenridge. 

I thought there could be no truth in the report, as I had 
left Breckenridge's division at Tupelo, and I saw no appear- 
ance of any movement. I also thought it would be a piece of 
folly to attempt an attack on Baton Rouge, as the place was 
completely covered by the ships and gun-boats on the river, 
against which the Confederate forces would be of no avail, 
and they would be driven back by the fire from the fleet. 

Nevertheless, the report turned out to be true. What the 
results of the battle were, it was difficult yet to know, as there 
were all manner of rumours. Of course the Butler newspapers 
described it as a great victory for the Federal troops, but that 
was a matter of course. 

In a few days, however, steamers began to arrive from Baton 
Rouge, bringing a number of wounded, and a large number of 
families whose houses had been destroyed, and who were 
fleeing for safety. 

I could never understand the object of the Confederates in 
making this attack ; they could never achieve any success or 
derive any benefit from it. It seemed to have been a mean- 
ingless action, barren of any results, entailing considerable loss 
to both sides, and redounding in advantage or credit to neither, 
while it inflicted great injury on the peaceful inhabitants of 
the place. 



406 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



On the part of the Confederates it was as unskilfully carried 
out as it was unwisely conceived. They gained nothing, and 
had at last to retire before the fire of the fleet, with the loss of 
a number of men and two pieces of their artillery. Among 
the former, was said to have been a Major Todd, a brother of 
Mrs. Lincoln, and brother-in-law of Mr. Lincoln, President of 
the United States, but who was fighting on the Southern side. 

On the part of the Federals, it left their force considerably 
demoralised, many of their troops had been driven to the river 
bank, and had to take refuge under the fire of the gun-boats. 
They lost a number of men, among whom was the brave and 
respected General Williams, and it led to the evacuation of 
the place for a time after burning and destroying a large part 
of the town. 

I found it was now impossible to get out of New Orleans. 
Parties from the country might be admitted in, under guard 
and surveillance, but no one was allowed to go out, even by 
sea, to a foreign country, without paying a heavy ransom to 
obtain the necessary permission and passports to pass the Forts 
at the mouth of the river, even if any chance of conveyance 
offered, which was very rare. I have known vessels bound to 
a foreign port being detained for weeks under the guns of Fort 
Jackson, on the plea of some deficiency in their papers or 
passports, and parts of their crews or passengers brought back 
to New Orleans, and only allowed to proceed after paying- 
enormous sums in the way of bribes. 

I would now even have tried to get out of the country had 
it been possible, but my means were limited, and the business 
with which I had been connected had been for some time 
suspended on account of the war. And for all moneys due to 
the firm, they had been compelled to accept Confederate scrip 
in payment, and that was now at great discount, and to me 
in New Orleans altogether valueless, besides, I could not now 
get to see any of my former partners in business, so I had to 
make the best of it for a time. 

Many of the people who now came into New Orleans were 
of those who had always been of Union sentiments, and had as 
far as possible refrained from taking any part in the secession 
movement, and came to seek protection under the Union flag ; 
but a taste of Butler's rule soon made secessionists of them if 
they had never been before. 

Butler continued his outrages unchecked, and nothing was 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 407 

now so clearly illustrated as that the most brutal tyrant that 
ever disgraced humanity had his myriads of obsequious para- 
sites who in the most servile manner obeyed his every command 
and applauded his most diabolical actions ; and these were the 
very men who had been loudest in their outcry against tyranny, 
and the most forward in the championship of men's rights and 
liberties. 

These did not so much exist in the troops under his com- 
mand, whose duty was only to obey, as in the numerous 
sycophants who sought offices and favours under his rule, and 
who could persuade a class of ignorant and weak-minded men 
who easily become infatuated and are ever ready to prostrate 
themselves before some idol of their own creation, or to deify 
a bubble which may float upon the surface of any impure 
element when stirred up by violent agitation. 

Nothing, perhaps, was so observable as the change in the 
tone of the daily newspapers. Those journals, which had 
before the war been distinguished by their ultra-secession 
principles, were now loudest in denouncing the rebellion, and 
applauding the policy of Butler and justifying the most 
diabolical of his acts. It is true that these papers may have 
been coerced by Butler, or bought over and now used as his own 
organs. There was, however, one honourable exception, the 
New Orleans Picayune^ which never had been an ultra-secession 
paper, and still even under Butler's rule maintained its 
independence. 

Butler continued to hunt for treason, and all material which 
could contribute to it he confiscated. He found it existed 
extensively in the vaults of banks, in merchants' safes, in rich 
men's houses, among their stores of plate and other valuables. 
It was even said that he dug for it in the graves in the 
cemetery, under the belief that some of the traitors had buried 
it there. This, however, I cannot vouch for ; it was only told 
to me, and it may be an exaggeration. 

His headquarters were in the Custom-house, an extensive 
building of granite, and from a large richly furnished mansion 
which he inhabited (and which, of course, had been confiscated 
for treason) to the Custom-house he was driven daily in a 
splendid carriage, surrounded by a numerous mounted body 
guard, and with more pomp and display than I have ever seen 
accorded to a European monarch. He then sat in imperial 
dignity in his judgment seat, and pronounced sentence 



408 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

according to his undisputed will on the numerous unfortunate 
wights who were daily brought before him. To see such 
autocratic power vested in such a man, and the lives and 
liberties of so many thousands in his hand, and subject to his 
whim or caprice, seemed to me to be strangely anomalous in a 
nation which had so long borne the name of being the great 
seat and home of human liberties. 

I had seen this personage only once, as he sat in his carriage 
at the funeral of General Williams, bedecked with all the 
feathers and tinsel that could be crowded on to a major- 
general's uniform, and surrounded by his guards. There 
seemed to be such an amount of pomp and vanity displayed 
about his person, which contrasted so much with the ragged 
and dirt-begrimed generals in the field, that I thought he 
looked like a vain old jackanapes, and I could not attribute to 
him all the diabolical cunning that he was said to possess, and 
I wished to have a closer look at him. 

My wish was gratified sooner than I expected, and in a way 
I did not anticipate. 

About this time the inhabitants of the city were secretly 
jubilant over General Lee's successes in Virginia and the heavy 
losses he had inflicted on M'Lellan's army, compelhng them to 
retire to a position on the James River. This was represented 
by the Federal newspapers, not as any repulse, but that 
M'Lellan was merely making a change of base, and of course 
no other version of it dare be breathed in New Orleans. 

Nevertheless, a portrayal, or caricature, supposed to be 
cut from some pictorial paper, probably some foreign publica- 
tion, was shown about among them in secret. 

This cartoon represented, somewhat extravagantly, the 
burning of the supplies and disorderly flight of the Federal 
army before the Confederate troops, and was headed with this 
title — " M'Lellan's Grand Change of Base ! " 

The secret circulation of this picture was known to Butler, 
and greatly irritated him. It was strictly suppressed as a 
treasonable production, and if found in the possession of any 
one the possessor would be doomed to Fort Jackson. 

It so happened that one Sunday afternoon, I was walking 
with some friends when a heavy shower of rain caused us to 
seek shelter in a cafe, where a number of people had taken 
refuge from the rain. While there some amusement was 
caused by two dogs, which, following the fashion of the times, 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 409 

began to fight, and, as they could not both be victorious, at 
last the weaker took to flight ; and, as fighting was now the 
fashionable theme of conversation among those who were not 
engaged in it, some jocular remarks were made about the 
fighting capacities of the respective dogs. When thinking to 
perpetrate a joke I, rather unguardedly, said, in regard to the 
dog that was beaten, that he was not beaten, that he was 
simply " making a change of base ! " This of course produced 
a laugh, and I thought I had said something smart. 

The rain was now over, and we went out and walked to the 
corner of Canal Street, where we stood and talked for a few 
minutes. 

While standing there a person tapped me on the shoulder 
and desired me to speak aside for a moment. I stepped aside 
with him, when two others came up, and they told me to come 
along with them. I demanded to know what they wanted, 
but they told me to come along and ask no questions. 

I was taken to the Custom-house, and taken into a large 
room in which were a number of those spy detectives and their 
menials, the latter mostly speaking with a strong German 
accent. Their bounce and bullying swagger knew no bounds. 
I took out my pocket-book and tore out a leaf and wrote a note 
in pencil to a solicitor whom I knew, and who was an English- 
man and well versed in international law, and, I think, was 
solicitor for the British consul, and generally attended to cases 
of British subjects. This note I requested them to forward. 

The name seemed to irritate them, and they sneeringly asked 
if I thought that my being a British subject would protect me, 
saying that I would find that General Butler did not care for 
all the British powers and all the queens and kings in the 
world. They then seized my pocket-book, as they had seen in 
it treasonable documents in the shape of bank-notes. 

I hoped that I would not have to remain overnight in this 
place, as this part of the building, which seemed to be the civil 
or detective department, was simply horrible. There were 
several large apartments like vaults leading off" from arched 
corridors lighted by gas, all filthy in the extreme, in which 
lounged bloated politicians, now holding some kind of office, 
and who ordered about a lot of menials, mostly Irish and 
Germans, who swaggered, smoked, and drank lager beer, and 
eulogised the immortal Butler ; while prostitutes of the lowest 
class and of all colours prowled round about and in the build- 



410 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



ing, and I was glad when I was sent round to the military 
guard-house, where there was at least a little more cleanliness, 
order, and respect. When I made it known to the guard that 
I had been a soldier in the Confederate army I was treated with 
much more respect. I was told by the officer of the guard that 
I would be taken in the morning before Butler himself, who 
had all cases brought before him in the first instance, some 
of which he dealt with himself according to his notion, others 
he deputed to other tribunals to be disposed of. 

In the morning accordingly I was taken before this great 
personage. 

General Butler sat alone in his room dressed in his full 
uniform and sword. On the table before him lay a loaded 
revolver, and at the door stood two sentinels, and a number of 
soldiers in the ante-room, with orderlies in attendance. No 
one was allowed into the room except those who sought and 
were granted an audience, or culprits and their accusers. 

When I was ushered into the room, Butler was engaged in 
a game of Billingsgate with an Irish woman, who had obtained 
an audience to beg a special favour, which was to ask permis- 
sion to go and see her son, who was within the Confederate 
lines at Mobile. 

Butler, whose greatest accomplishment in his civil capacity 
as a lawyer and a politician was his proficiency in Billingsgate, 
had no doubt granted this audience with the view of having 
a little " set-to " by way of exercising his powers and keeping 
himself in practice. He seemed to have had his usual sagacity 
in making a good selection, and he had certainly got a foeman 
worthy of his steel. 

It would be as impossible for me to describe the badinage 
which passed between the two as it would be unedifying to 
hear it, but while they were engaged in their war of words I 
had an opportunity of surveying this Mokanna. 

A more forbidding and ill-favoured personage I never saw. 

His appearance did not so much portray the cunning 
trickster, as it betokened a sort of compromise between the 
proud, semi-sanctified autocrat and the depraved sot. 

He had two eyes vastly different in expression. From one, 
seemed to look out benignity, and from the other, malignity. 
He might oe said to possess a good eye and an evil eye, which 
he might use according to circumstances. Near to the evil eye 
there was something like a large, swollen projection on the 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 411 

cheek, which at first seemed to me as if the Irish woman had 
given him a blow there ; but I afterwards observed that it 
was permanent, and reminded one of the fox's " bag of tricks," 
in which were stored up, as in a sort of out-house, such infernal 
devices as could not by nature be admitted within the human 
brain. It also seemed to serve as a sort of bastion for the 
demon eye to retreat behind when confronted by the stern 
gaze of noble sentiment. 

His head was large and flabby, and nearly destitute of hair 
— except a little at the sides, which was just the colour of his 
epaulets. 

He maintained the contention with his opponent with a 
coolness which showed that in that system of warfare at least 
his generalship excelled. He lay back in his chair and 
retorted with a provoking smile of ironical politeness, which 
acted strongly upon the temper of his opponent, who at length 
seemed unable to restrain herself much longer, and summing up 
her patience, and addressing him in a mild, direct way, said — 

" Well, now, General Butler, the question is. Are you going 
to give me a passport or are you not 1 " 

He coolly leant back in his chair and with a provoking 
smile, slowly replied, " No, woman, I will never give a rebel 
mother a pass to go to see a rebel son." 

She gazed at him for a moment, and then as coolly and 
deliberately replied : " General Butler, if I thought the devil 
was as ugly a man as you, I would double my prayers night 
and morning that I might never fall into his clutches." So 
saying, she bolted out, passed the sentinels, and disappeared. 

Butler then turned his evil eye upon me with a hideous 
stare, and said : " Well, sir, what do you want ? " 

I replied that I did not know ; I had been brought here, but 
I did not know what for. 

" Oh no, of course not ; " said he, " no one ever knows what 
they are brought here for, but we will be able to show you 
before we are done with you. Here, orderly, where is the 
charge against this man 1 " 

I was about to speak. He ordered me to hold my tongue, 
but I would not. I said I was a British subject, and would 
have counsel to attend to my case. 

"Oh, a British subject of course," roared he, "I know that 
they are all British subjects now in New Orleans. The rebels 
are all getting dressed in the garb of British subjects, or some 



412 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



other d d foreign power, but I will see to that. What is 

the charge against this fellow 1 " said he to the man who had 
now come with the charge. 

" Treasonable language, sir," said the man in a tone of 
servile importance, as he handed Butler a paper. 

Butler read the paper over, and then, after an expression of 
impatience, handed the paper back to the man, and said : 
" Here, take this fellow to Judge B." 

The man with a disappointed look, and somewhat crest- 
fallen, Avent with me to Judge B., who occupied chambers in 
another part of the building. I knew now that I was all 
right. I knew Judge B. ; he was a very different man and in 
very different capacity from the Judge M. I have referred to. 
He was a judge in the proper and legal sense of the word, and 
had acted in that capacity in New Orleans previous to the 
war. What part he took when the war broke out I did not 
know, but he had the name of being a pretty honourable man. 

When I was taken before him, he asked my accuser what 
was the charge against me. The man handed him the paper, 
which he read over. He then asked the man if he had any 
further evidence to give against me. The man said he had 
heard me uttering some offensive language about Butler and 
his d d Dutch * minions. This, however, on my cross-ques- 
tioning, he admitted to have been after I had been arrested. 

Judge B. then told the man to retire and wait outside until 
he would call for him. He (Judge B.) then asked to see my 
certificate as a British subject, and then put a few questions, 
but told me that I need not mind to send for my solicitor, and 
that it was very likely that my accusers had never delivered 
the note. He then gave me an admonition, in which he told 
me to remember the position in which the city was placed, 
being a conquered city and under martial law, and reminded 
me that, although some of the acts of General Butler might 
not be altogether what might be approved of, yet the inhabi- 
tants suffered from no outrage, rapine, or plunder from the 
troops, as had often been the case with conquered cities. It 
was therefore my duty as a foreigner and a neutral to abstain 
from making any remarks which would be irritating to either 
party, and he counselled me to be more guarded in my expres- 
sions in future with regard to dogs " changing base," or General 
Butler and his " German minions." 

* All Germans -wiere generally called *' Dutch " in the United States. 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 413 

I could not but admit that his reasoning was very fair, and 
I did not attempt to advance any arguments. I then asked 
about my pocket-book, and it was returned to me with about 
half of the money extracted ; but I might console myself with 
the reflection that I was very fortunate in getting any of the 
money back, which was considered a most extraordinary and 
unaccountable circumstance. 

He then called the man and told him to show me the way 
out, which he did with more ci^^.lity than he had brought me 
in, I was quite astonished at having got off so easily. My 
friends were also astonished. But it seemed to me that Butler, 
notwithstanding his outward show of disregard for foreign 
powers, did not on the whole like to meddle with such cases, 
but handed them over to Judge B. 

There was at this time a smart little British war steamer 
called the Rinaldo which often visited ISTew Orleans. She w^as 
commanded by a Captain Je^vit, or Hewdt, I forget which. 
The Southern party, British subjects, and foreigners in general, 
held this gentleman in high estimation as one of whom Butler 
stood in wholesome dread ; and there were many stories cur- 
rent among the haters of Butler — and their name was legion — 
of the gallant acts of this young officer in comng down the 
" Beast Butler," as he was called, and bringing him to his 
senses on questions regarding British subjects. 

There is no doubt that some of those stories were exag^e- 
rated, or perhaps without much foundation ; but there is no 
question that Captain Hewit was very zealous in his protec- 
tion of British subjects and very prompt in his actions, and he 
afforded great support to the British consul, and curbed the 
overbearing tyranny of Butler and compelled him to respect 
the rights of British subjects, notwithstanding Ms .outward 
braggadocio and pretended disregard for foreign powers. 

It had always been regarded as a sine qua non in the 
stepping stone to popularity among the lower class of 
American politicians to maintain a hostile and defiant attitude 
towards all foreign powers, and particularly towards John 
Bull. This feeling was confined more to the lower class of 
Irish and Germans than to native Americans, and it was 
among the lowest classes that Butler sought and ever could 
obtain popularity. He therefore strove to maintain an outward 
appearance of a defiant attitude, and caused his newspaj^er 
organs to trumpet forth some pretended instances of his firm 



414 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



and determined policy in dealing with foreign agencies, 
although his real actions might be very different. 

The bitter hatred which existed in New Orleans between 
the Federals under Butler and the Confederate inhabitants 
had now become intense. 

The Confederate flag was three bars of red, white, and red, 
and the exhibition of anything representing it was considered 
treason, and strictly forbidden ; and the displaying of some- 
thing emblematical of this was often done in a vindictive 
spirit by the Confederates. 

Three lines drawn with red and white chalk in this rotation 
upon a gate or door would cause that gate or door to be 
demolished by Butler's patriots, and the perpetrators to be 
imprisoned, or the owner of the property to be arrested. 
Ladies appeared in the street and in the street cars with three 
roses in their bonnets, arranged with a red rose on each side 
and a white rose in the centre. Of course any gentlemanly officer 
would take no notice of such things, but Butler's sycophants, to 
show their zeal and patriotism, would go up to a lady and tear 
the roses out of her cap and trample them under their feet. 

I may say, however, that such actions were confined to men 
who had been made officers under Butler, just because they 
would condescend to such actions ; but such a spirit did not 
pervade the Federal officers in general. 

Butler hung out United States flags over the pavements in 
the principal streets, while the Confederates, to show their 
hatred of the flag would step off the pavement or cross the 
street to avoid passing under it. Butler then stretched strings 
of flags across the streets from side to side, and latterly placed 
guards near the flags to seize any person who tried to avoid 
them, and compel them to pass under them. Ladies, as they 
were being dragged past under them, would try to cover 
their heads with their shawls, or put up their umbrellas. In 
fact, such nonsensical absurdities were carried to such an 
extreme on both sides, that every day some new amusement 
was furnished for such as could afford to laugh. 

Every kind of business was now suspended, except what 
was conducted under the directing power of Butler himself, or 
by those to whom he granted special privileges, for which, of 
course, they would pay him the requisite tribute. These 
privileges were only granted to his true and loyal followers, 
and were something upon the old Roman publican system. 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 415 

The principal business done under this mandate was 
speculation in sugar and cotton. The latter being now at an 
enormous price, and the seizure and confiscation of this com- 
modity belonging to private individuals under plea of some 
breach of regulations, or releasing it again on payment of an 
enormous ransom, became a very common practice. 

Several paying institutions were established in the city 
under the direction and control of Butler, among which were 
two extensive and elegantly fitted up gambling-houses. Such 
institutions on a small and private scale had not been 
altogether unknown, but all these had been virtuously put 
down by Butler's orders. 

It was now about the middle of August. The people of 
New Orleans had been looking forward to an avenger which 
they expected to come through a desperate source, which was a 
visitation of that terrible scourge the yellow fever, which, had 
it come, would have compelled the Federals to evacuate the 
city, and whichever way that was done, they all knew that 
Butler would be the first to fly. But the dreadful epidemic 
did not come, and all hopes and fears of such a visitation now 
began to subside. 

About this time I learned that a large part of the town of 
Baton Rouge had been burned by the Federal troops, and that 
all the business premises with which I had been connected, and 
all the property of our business firm had been destroyed. The 
cause assigned for this was a "military necessity." The 
Federal commander, fearing another attack from the Con- 
federates, and wishing to hold the place on account of the 
garrison and arsenal, resolved to enfilade the rear of the town 
by the fire from the fleet. 

The gunboats were accordingly stationed at points above 
and below the town, where their fire would converge at a point 
at the back of the town. This point, to save distance, they 
made as near to the river as possible, thus leaving within the 
lines only a part of the city in the form of a triangle. 

In order to get a clear sweep for their fire, everything out- 
side of these line was cleared away. Houses, fences, trees, and 
every other object that would obstruct the range or afford 
cover to an enemy was burned or cleared out of the way so 
that the fleet could effectually sweep with their guns every 
approach to the town. But in the end all this destruction of 
property was of no avail whatever, for a few days after the 



416 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

burning was done the river began to fall, and fell so low that 
the vessels floated at too low a level to use their guns to any 
advantage. 

The intelligence of the burning of the town and the destruc- 
tion of all the property in which I had any interest, and which 
I knew would be entirely lost to me, was in such times of 
revolution and violence to me a matter of little importance, 
but I had been in New Orleans now nearly a month in perfect 
idleness, which, after a period of activity and excitement, 
became to me exceedingly irksome, and this became more dis- 
tasteful when I was reminded that I was here virtually 
imprisoned and could not get out of the city, and as I was so 
completely disgusted with the state of things in the city I 
determined to get out of it by some means. 

In the meantime the Federal troops arrived in New Orleans 
from Baton Rouge, having evacuated the latter place. They 
took with them all the movable property which they could 
transport, and which they thought could be used in any way 
by the Confederates, and without regard to what or who the 
owners might be. 

Every kind of steamer or boat which could be used as a 
transport was seized and loaded up, and sent down the river to 
New Orleans. What they could not take with them they 
burned or destroyed. The steam ferry-boat, a fine large boat 
which would carry several waggons and horses, they loaded up 
mth plunder to take with them, but in their zeal or greed 
they loaded her too deep ; and, as if imbued like the inhabi- 
tants with a refractory rebel spirit, she determined not to 
leave the place for she grounded on the bank, and the sympa- 
thizing river falling fast, all their efforts to get her off" proved 
unsuccessful. They therefore set fire to her, and she was 
burned with all her cargo ; her owner meanwhile standing at 
a point on the opposite side of the river, about three miles 
distant, firing at them with his revolver. 

I must, however, do the Federals the justice to say that they 
gave out at least that they did not carry away those things 
with a view to plunder or deprive the owners of them, but 
rather for the purpose of preserving them for the owners by 
saving them from being plundered or destroyed by the Con- 
federate guerillas, and there was no doubt a good deal of reason 
in this. But the practice of seizing private property to pre- 
vent it falling into the hands of the enemy, was now coming 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 417 

to be rather common on both sides, and was painfully unplea- 
sant to those who possessed any substance in the disturbed 
districts, as no man could say what he could call his own. 

There was no conveyance to Baton Rouge by steamers, even 
if permission could be obtained, which was now out of the 
question. The only chance, therefore, was to "run the guards," 
and get to Baton Rouge by land if I wished to get there. 
With a view to this, I went up to Carrolton, which is a suburb 
of New Orleans, and was at the extremity of the military 
district. "While there reconnoitring I met with two former 
acquaintances who were also reconnoitring with a view to 
running the guards and getting out of the city, and a place 
was discovered where it was supposed that a passage might be 
effected ; and by a little cautious manoeuvring we succeeded 
in getting past the guard ; and, after having got a sufficient 
distance from the lines, we obtained horses and proceeded to 
Baton Rouge. 



2d 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



KETURN TO BATON ROUGE — WRETCHED CONDITION OF THE PLACE— OUT OF 
THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE— RETURN TO THE ARMY— MILITARY 
CAREER CUT SHORT— BATTLE OF CORINTH— WOUNDED AND A PRISONER — 
PAROLE AND RETURN TO CIVIL OCCUPATION— CONDUCT OF THE NEGRO 
SLAVES — LINCOLN'S EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION — COMMENTS AND 
CRITICISMS UPON ITS OBJECT AND EXTENT. 

When I got to Baton Rouge, I found everything in a 
wretched state. The greater part of the town was in ruins, 
and several fine buildings, besides those burned by the Federals 
as a "military necessity," had been burned — wdiether by 
Federals or Confederates I could not learn. Nearly all the 
substantial, former residents had left the place. ' Many of 
them having been driven from their homes were living in log 
cabins in the surrounding country. 

No business of any kind was being done, and hunger and 
privation reigned supreme. Our business premises and aU 
property in which I had an interest had been destroyed. My 
partner had removed with his family to a log house somewhere 
far out in the country. Most of the houses which remained 
were occupied by those who had no right to them. ISTumbers 
of Confederate officers of the home guard class, with airs of 
great importance, lounged about wdth their followers on the 
hunt for conscripts, and enforcing the iron rule of military 
despotism, with all the official arrogance they could assume. 

When I looked upon this state of things, and compared it 
with the happy and prosperous state of affairs two years 
previous, I could not help reflecting upon the shortness of the 
step, from a Democracy to a Despotism ; and the condition 
into which men possessing what they proudly termed indi- 
vidual sovereign powders may be led, or allow themselves to be 
led, by their credulity and apathy. 

I now found that by leaving New Orleans and returning 
mthin the Confederate lines, I had only jumped out of the 
frying pan into the fire, as far as despotic rule prevailed. 
There was only the one consideration, which was, that I was 
now on the side I had taken part with, on which I had some 
claim, and where I was better known. 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 419 

But I found my position exceedingly awkward and un- 
pleasant. . There was no kind of occupation in civil life to 
which I could apply myself — all business suspended ; and 
every young and able man of any spirit had volunteered into 
the army, and those who had hung back and were now being 
hunted after by the conscript officers, were not looked upon 
with respect, and although I was now exempt I could not 
brook the idea of lounging about idle, and I could not get 
out of the country. I could also plainly see that under a 
military despotism, such as the whole country was, the best 
and safest place to be was in the army. 

In joining the army again I knew that I was violating 
neutrality, and forfeiting my rights as a British subject, but 
I could see no alternative. It was impossible to be in this 
part of the country without being mixed up in the turmoil, 
and it was impossible to get out of the place. 

I had learned that the old Army of the West was not 
now under Bragg, and therefore . I determined to go and see 
some of the field officers that I knew, and through their 
influence I might, on account of my former ser^dces, get an 
appointment in the Engineer corps, either with the army in 
the field or at some of the fortifications on the river, and 
with this view I set off" to pay a visit to my old friends in the 
army in northern Mississippi. 

When I reached the camp I found that the army had moved 
from the camp at Tupelo, and had advanced northwards. The 
large army which I had left had broken up, and a large 
portion, of it had proceeded to the eastward towards Chat- 
tanooga, under Bragg. The remnants of the old Army of the 
West, patched up with some new reinforcements, was still under 
Price and Yan Dorn, and they were preparing to make an 
attack upon Corinth. It was reported that a large portion of 
Grant's army had left Corinth and gone to act against Bragg, 
and Price and Yan Dorn were supposed to be able to deal 
with the remainder. 

The brigade, in which was my old regiment, was away in 
advance, and I learned that at an engagement they had 
with the enemy at luka, they had suffered severely. My old 
company was much reduced; my old friend, the first lieutenant, 
had been killed. The captain and second lieutenant, wounded, 
were both absent from the company, and very few of the 
officers of the regiment that I knew were left. There was no 



Bill 



420 LIFE IN THE CONFEDEEATE ARMY. 

time at present for me to see any of the field officers, as a 
battle was just going to begin, and there was no other way for 
me to do but to join in. 

As the proportion of officers of all ranks and classes was 
very large in proportion to the number of men for duty, it 
was understood that all officers on the day of battle would 
arm themselves with rifles, and this was easily done as there 
was plenty of arms belonging to the wounded men not in use 
and to be had. 

I was joined to a detachment that was bringing up the rear 
and was a short distance in the rear of the main body. 

It was a fine, clear, cool morning, about the beginning of 
October, that we were ordered to hurry up and join the main 
body. The detachment hurried up and joined the division 
just as they were advancing to the attack. 

I had no time to look around to see or form any idea of the 
plan of the battle. We dashed forward at a double quick. The 
object was, I understood, to break the enemy's centre. The 
enemy opened a heavy fire upon us, but we kept pressing 
forward, and they kept falling steadily back. A tremendous 
artillery fire had opened upon our right and left, and the 
battle seemed as if it was going to be a severe one. We had 
just passed over an embankment — whether it was a railway 
embankment, or a work thrown up, I did not observe, as at 
that time I was struck on the leg by a ball which caused me 
to fall. 

The men around me were much thinned, and a good many 
of both sides lay on the ground. I did not like the place I 
lay in, as it was rather exposed, and I could see that the 
enemy were not making the same mistake that they had made 
in former battles, for they were firing low enough now, and I 
could see the little clouds of dust raised by the bullets as they 
struck the ground thickly all around me. I tried to get up 
and walk but could not, so I managed to crawl to a less 
exposed place, and fortunately I saw a pit, or hole, from which 
stuff had been dug out to make up the embankment. Into 
this place I crawled, where I found I was comparatively safe 
from the fire of either small arms or artillery. Here I tied 
my handkerchief tight round the wound, which we had often 
been instructed to do. 

I was satisfied that my wound, although painful, was not 
dangerous, if I could get timely relief. 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 421 

The battle was now going on furiously, and the artillery fire 
was very heavy, though round about the place where I lay it 
seemed to have slackened. The smoke had cleared away and 
our men seemed to have fallen back from this point. How 
long I lay here I cannot tell, but it seemed to me to be a long 
time. 

At length the firing began to slacken, and I heard cheering 
which I knew did not come from our men, and it was evident 
that they had fallen back. 

It w^as not until night that I was picked up and carried to 
the railway store-houses, which were used as hospitals, and 
reported as a wounded reb. There I lay waiting my turn to 
get my wound dressed, which was done in the course of time. 
Fortunately it was not serious. It had been a spent ball 
which had first struck the ground and then glanced upwards. 

I was moved into a separate place, or ward, where the rest 
of the wounded rebels, or rebs., as they called us, were put. 

In the morning I looked around the room, to see how many 
there might be in it, and if there was any that I knew. There 
might be about thirty in the room, and I saw one that I had 
seen before, and had a slight acquaintance with. He was a 
captain in one of the Texas regiments. He had been wounded 
in the same way as myself, and was sitting with his leg, which 
had been newly bandaged, propped up on a box. He was 
talking to one or two who were lying near him, and who 
seemed to be sufiering more. He was venting his rage at a 
furious rate on some functionary. I feared it might be some 
of the Federal officers, and such abuse might cause bad feeling 
and subject us to rough treatment. 

" What is the matter, captain ? " said I ; " who is that you're 
pitching into 1 " 

" Why," said he, " that rash, reckless, little red-headed rat, 
Van Dorn. He makes a mess of everjrthing he attempts by 
his rashness." 

I said I knew he had made a bungle of things at Pea Ridge, 
but I thought he had got his name up again while we were 
fighting here in May last. 

" Yes," said he, " but look at luka, and see the mess he has 
made here now." 

I said I had not been at luka, and for this battle I did not 
know anytliing about it. I had just got up as the battle was 
going to begin, and was shoved into the column that was going 



422 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

to advance on the enemy's centre — in fact, I had left the army 
in July, and was only back on a ^^isit, and was not attached 
to any corps. " But," continued I, "do you know anything 
of the plan of this battle or the object of it." 

" No," said he, " nor anyone else ;" and he was beginning 
to give a description of the movements when two hospital 
attendants came in under pretence of sweeping the floor, 
although it was no doubt to listen to the conversation. We 
stopped speaking, and the two fellows, whom I could see were 
of the shirker class, seemed not pleased because we had stopped 
the conversation, and they began to act roughly towards the 
wounded, ordering them to move, and if they remonstrated 

they swore at them, calling them d d rebels. The Texas 

captain remarked that whatever rebels might be they would 
not insult helpless, wounded men. I remarked to the captain 
that rebel or Confederate soldiers would not, neither did I 
believe that Federal soldiers would insult wounded men. 
" But," continued I in a loud tone in their hearing, "these are 
not soldiers ; these are cowardly shirkers, who dare not go 
into the field, but lounge about the hospitals." 

Fortunately at the time some Federal officers and soldiers 
were passing the door going out from the next ward where they 
had been visiting some of their wounded men. I called to them, 
and they looked in. 

" There," said I, addressing the Texas captain, " are men 
who met us in the field yesterday; they would not insult 
wounded men." 

"What is the matter?" said one of the officers; "who 
insulted you 1 " 

" These two fellows there," said I, pointing to them. 

The officers ordered them out, and told us to report any bad 
treatment to the superintendent of the hospital. We could 
not complain very much of the treatment we got after this. 
My wound quickly healed, and in a few days I was able to 
move about with the help of a crutch. 

In moving about, I met with and entered into conversation 
with some of the Federal wounded. Most of them were in 
hopes that they would be sent to their homes in a few days. 
I found among them one or two Scotchmen, with whom I 
formed an acquaintance and through whom I got introduced 
to a major, who was also a Scotchman. He was very kind, 
and got me put on the list for parole; and as the Federal 



IX THE SOUTH DURING THE AVAR. 42S 

army, which here was under comraand of General Rosencranz, 
was much encumbered with sick and wounded, I with several 
others was called up to sign our parole and were allowed to go. 

Where the Confederate army had gone to we did not know, 
but were told it had fallen back towards Holly Springs. Of 
course we had in the meantime nothing to do with it, and I 
did not intend again to join, as I had now but few friends 
left in it, and as I would be for a time crippled, I could ^^-ith 
more satisfaction and better grace remain quiet for a time to 
see how affairs went. 

We managed to get an ambulance to take us to Priceville, 
where we got on to the railway and got via Meridian as before 
to Camp Moore. 

I must here remark that throughout this war notliing could 
exceed the deference that was paid to wounded men, at least 
on the part of the Confederates. We had no difficulty in 
getting past pickets. We travelled on railways free of charge. 
Often hotels would not charge for a night's accommodation — 
country people were ready to entertain us, and gave us 
carriages and horses at any time for conveyance, ^^dthout any 
charge, and I had very little difficulty in getting to Baton 
Rouge. I did not, however, remain at that place, but crossed 
the river and went to the county of West Baton Rouge, where 
I knew that my partner and some of my former friends had 
gone to reside. 

My wound was now nearly healed, although I continued to 
walk lame. 

West Baton Rouge was an extensive sugar- producing 
district, and it was now November, the sugar harvest time, 
and a large crop of sugar cane was ripe and ready to be cut 
down and manufactured ; and it was stated to have been the 
desire of both parties that this valuable crop should not be 
lost, and that the manufacture of sugar should not be molested 
by either party. 

Some landslips had also taken place on the river bank which 
had broken the embankments, and the country was in danger 
of being overflowed when the river rose, unless some scheme 
vvas devised to keep it back by new embankments. 

I now met with some of my old planter friends, among 
whom was my old friend Mr. C. They told me that I might be 
satisfied with fighting now, that I had surely got enough of it, 
and I would be of more service if I would come and sjive them the 



424 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

benefit of my engineering skill in protecting their lands from 
overflow, and getting their machinery ready for the manufac- 
ture of sugar. There were very few engineers of any kind 
now to be had, most of them having either joined the service 
or left the country. 

I told them that I thought that was rather cool for their 
patriotism, but they maintained that self-preservation was the 
first law of nature, and I was not very hard to persuade. 

I may here observe that tliis district, as well as all the land 
on the west side of the river, was a sugar-producing district, 
and consisted almost entirely of sugar plantations and large 
sugar factories. Throughout this district, the slave population 
at all times greatly exceeded the white population ; and, after 
the war had broken out, and a large portion of the white 
population had volunteered for or had been conscripted into 
the military service, the predominance of the slave population 
was greatly increased. 

To the everlasting credit of the negroes — not only in this 
district but all over the South, wliile the whole country was 
distracted by war — they never made the slightest show of 
insurrection ; and never, except in the case of the two plan- 
tations on the Mississippi, in July, 1862, which I have already 
referred to, did I know of even the slightest disafiection, and 
this I noticed particularly, during this winter of 1862-63, in 
which I had occasion to go much among them, and I never 
saw them more orderly or better behaved. 

Mr. Lincoln has been spoken of by many in Europe and 
elsewhere, as the great emancipator — whose generous act in 
emancipating the slaves in America had earned for him a 
world-wide fame. But I have sometimes thought that, if some 
of those who thus lauded him had known a little more of the 
solid truth, they might have approached the subject with a 
little more caution. 

Mr. Lincoln was certainly opposed to slavery through 
philanthropic motives, and his philanthropy was of the 
sincere and genuine kind; but the measures adopted in his 
name on which this fame has been based might, if looked 
into, appear just somewhat questionable from a philanthropic 
point of view. 

The Act amending the constitution of the United States — 
reconstructing the Union and abolishing slavery — was not 
passed until December, 1865 — eight months after Mr. Lincoln's 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 425 

death, but this dogma of Mr. Lincoln emancipating the slaves, 
arose from a proclamation issued by him on the 1st of January, 
1863. 

Far be it from me to detract from Mr. Lincoln any credit 
due to his name. I believe him to have been a well-meaning 
man, who wished to do right to all men, an honest, true, 
and genuine philanthropist, who disapproved of slavery, and 
was willing to adopt any honourable and judicious means to 
have it gradually abohshed, with due regard to the rights of 
those who, by fate or fortune, were interested in it, or 
dependent upon it. And I think I cannot do a greater 
honour to his memory, than to give it as my opinion, that this 
proclamation, like others issued in his name, never emanated 
from him with his cordial approval, and with his full know- 
ledge of its meaning or object. 

With regard to Mr. Lincoln's own personal views at that 
time, I remember reading in the papers a proposal or suggestion 
he put forth in an address about the autumn of 1862. It was 
in the form of a grand scheme for the emancipation and 
colonisation of all the slaves in the United States by a legal 
purchase out of a fund to be raised according to the increase in 
the population. I cannot remember the substance of it, but 
the proposal did not seem to have been favourably received by 
his cabinet and followers, for it did not take root, and I never 
heard more of it. 

About this time the fortune of the war had again gone with 
the Confederate arms and against the Federal forces. The 
latter had suffered some crushing reverses in Virginia, and 
particularly at Fredericksburg in December, and also in the 
west by the defeat of Sherman in his advance against Vicks- 
burg ; and the fearful wound which had penetrated the heart 
of the Confederacy, and cut it asunder by the Federals obtain- 
ing command of the Mississippi river, had been partially 
stopped up by strong forts erected at JPort Hudson, a place 
about 18 miles above Baton Rouge, by which the Federal fleet 
was stopped from proceeding up the river, and by strong forts 
at Yicksburg, about 300 miles above Port Hudson, wliich 
prevented their gunboats passing down. Tliis not only checked 
communication between the upper and lower fleets, but left 
nearly 300 miles of the river in possession of the Confederates. 
Into this flowed Red River, which allowed them free com- 
munication with Western Louisiana, Texas, and other parts 



426 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

west of the Mississippi river. The triumph of the Federal 
arms and the subduing of the Confederate States seemed thus 
as remote as ever. 

On 1st January, 1863, the famous proclamation was issued. 
On this proclamation I will not presume to pass judgment, 
but as I happened at the time to be in a locality where its 
effects would or might have been productive of serious conse- 
quences, and its construction was very seriously criticised and 
commented upon, I will simply state, as near as I can, the 
substance of it, and the different views expressed in regard to 
its meaning and object. 

The substance of the proclamation, after the preamble 
referring to the rebellion and the state of the country, was, as 
near as I can recollect, in these words : — 

"I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by 
virtue of the authority in me invested, do hereby issue this 
my proclamation, and do hereby proclaim all slaves within 
the States or parts of States now in rebellion against the 
United States to be now, and for ever, free, and all officers 
employed in the army or navy of the United States are hereby 
ordered to assist them in every way in their endeavours to 
obtain their freedom." 

It was further stated, by way of interpretation, though I do 
not remember the exact words, that the slaves were declared 
free in all States in rebellion, except such parts as were held 
by the armies of the United States. 

This exception would amount to nearly half of the slave- 
holding territory. 

At that time, the feeling of deadly hate between the political 
magnates and extreme fanatics on both sides had become most 
intense, and there is no saying to what length their bitter 
animosities would have carried them. But their power was 
curbed, and many outrages and cruelties prevented by the 
more noble and generous sentiments of the military commanders 
in the field on both sides. 

This proclamation was said to have been issued by the 
authority of Congress as a " military necessity," and I use the 
words of a Federal officer who stated to me that it would have 
been more correct to say, " By command of Congress and the 
Cabinet," and that Mr. Lincoln, when he assented to it, had 
failed to observe the different ways in which it might be 
construed. 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 427 

The fact of it being called forth as a " military necessity," 
and the significant and positive orders to all officers in the 
army and navy of the United States to assist the slaves in 
every way in their endeavours to obtain their freedom, called 
forth many severe criticisms from both sides. It did not 
express in any way in what manner this assistance was to be 
rendered. It did not say that such assistance should be in 
accordance with civilised customs, or conform to the laws and 
usages of war. 

Various constructions were put upon the meaning of this 
order — the most extreme being that it was to stir up the 
negroes to follow the example of the slaves in St. Domingo, and 
incite them to wreak an indiscriminate slaughter upon their 
masters and the white population in general within the rebel- 
lious States, and that in this they would be aided by the 
United States forces. 

The milder construction put upon it was, that the officers of 
the army and navy should affi^rd every facility they could in 
aiding the slaves to escape from their masters, and in rescuing 
them from any parties who might endeavour to recapture 
them. 

This latter was probably the light in which it was issued by 
Mr. Lincoln, and the meaning that was represented to him by 
those who prepared the proclamation and got him to assent to 
it, and he probably adhibited his signature without looking 
further into it, or observing the different ways in which it 
might be construed. 

However, that might be, the proclamation caused great 
excitement and indignation, not only among the Confederates 
w^ho regarded it in the extreme light, and on whom it acted 
like a second dose of Butler ; but also among many of the 
Northern Democrats, and it also caused some disaffection in 
the army and navy, and several officers resigned their com- 
missions. By many, the milder construction was scouted as 
being absurd, as such an order would be quite superfluous ; as 
an act had already been passed in the Federal Congress 
declaring that all slaves that should escape from their masters 
and take refuge within the Federal lines should be free ; and 
an order had been issued to all officers in the army and navy 
of the United States, to afford them every assistance and 
protection. This act was passed about three months before 
the proclamation was issued. Another singular feature in this 



428 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



proclamation was, that it restricted the abolition of slavery to 
such parts of the United States only where Mr. Lincoln's 
power did not extend, and where his armies had failed to 
penetrate, and where he had not the power to enforce it ; and 
in all parts where his power did exist, and where his armies 
had penetrated and subdued, slavery was still to be maintained. 

It was, therefore, in that respect regarded at best as a mere 
formal or pajoer proclamation of emancipation, where he knew 
lie had not the power to carry it into effect, and no one could 
or pretended to maintain that it was done as an act of 
philanthropy. 

To return to the effect and working of the proclamation, 
allowing it to be recognised, acted upon, and in force. 

The parts in which slavery should exist and the parts in 
which it should not exist were so mixed up and interwoven, 
constantly varying and uncertain, that it would be difficult to 
determine which was which, even taking it at the date of 
proclamation. 

Slavery would have still continued either in entire States or 
parts of States all over the South. 

It would still continue in Delaware, Maryland, Western 
Virginia, Kentucky, East Tennessee, Missouri, large portions 
of Louisiana and Arkansas, besides the many seaports held by 
the Federal forces, including Galveston, in Texas, wliich latter 
place at the date of the proclamation was held by the Federal 
forces, and, consequently, slavery would there be maintained 
and continued, but before the proclamation could reach that 
place it had been recaptured by the Confederate forces. 

Whether the Confederates, when they captured this place 
on the 1st of January, 1863, might have regarded it as a place 
in which slavery had been confirmed by Lincoln's proclamation 
and retained the slaves as slaves, or whether, by the capture 
of the place by the Confederates, the slaves became entitled to 
their freedom was a question which, like other things in the 
proclamation, was a little confounding. 

To come more direct to the question. The part of Louisiana 
in which I happened to be at that time was somewhat 
uncertain. It was claimed by both sides, but protected by 
neither. 

It consisted of the lands on both sides of the river between 
New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and on the west side for some 
miles above the latter place. 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 429 

The Federals had held it from the time they captured New 
Orleans in April, 1862, until August, when they evacuated 
Baton Rouge and fell back to New Orleans. The Confederates 
had not since occupied it by any force, but some bands of 
miserable guerillas, pretending to be in the Confederate 
service, prowled around, while an ironclad Federal gunboat 
named the Essex lay in the river opposite Baton Rouge, 
occasionally taking a cruise up the river to within safe distance 
of Port Hudson, but when the river was low, the low country 
behind the embankments could not be seen or commanded 
from the vessel. 

Sometimes the guerillas would become possessed of extra- 
ordinary courage, and they would hide themselves safely 
behind the embankments and fire at the ironclad gunboat as 
she passed at the distance of half-a-mile or more. The gunboat 
would retaliate by firing heavy shot and shell over the embank- 
ments and up into the country, indiscriminately destroying 
houses and property and endangering the lives of and terrifying 
the inhabitants, who were between the " devil and the deep 
sea." The people were made unionists by the acts of the con- 
scripting officers and the guerillas, and fled for refuge to New 
Orleans, where they were made secessionists again by Butler 
and his acts. 

When this proclamation was issued, it was of course treated 
with scorn and contempt within the Confederate lines proper, 
but in parts such as this, which were being taken and retaken, 
or claimed by both sides, if it had been acknowledged and 
respected, its application would have been a question of some 
difficulty, for in this district, as I have said, the slave popula- 
tion greatly exceeded the white population. 

It might be supposed that the Southern slaveowners would 
have tried to keep the proclamation from becoming known to 
their slaves, but they did the very opposite. They produced 
the proclamation and read it to their slaves. I was present on 
one or two occasions when this was done. 

One, a Mr. L, of West Baton Rouge, called all his slaves up 
and asked me, in their presence, as a foreigner, a neutral and 
disinterested party, to read the proclamation, which I did. 

He explained to them the construction he put upon it, 
putting it in the extreme sense, and asked them if the/ had 
any desire to rebel, in order to obtain their freedom ; for if 
they had, they need not endanger their own lives or stain 



430 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATITARMY. 

their hands with bloodshed, for they were now at liberty to go 
if they pleased. 

The negroes very emphatically, and I believed sincerely, 
repudiated any desire for any change, and begged of him to 
retain them under his protection as formerly, and they would 
be as faithful to him as ever. 

Of course, I thought at the time that it was not to be 
expected that they were likely to make any other reply, 
whatever might be their inward thoughts. But afterwards I 
began to joke with some of the more intelligent and leading 
men among them, and asked them why they did not avail 
themselves of the opportunity which was offered to them to 
obtain their freedom so easily. 

The reply was : — 

" Master, I see no use of us going and getting ourselves 
into trouble. If so be we are to get free, we get it anyhow. 
If we not to get it, we no get it ; and we tliink it more betterer 
to stay home on the plantation, and get our food and our 
clothes ; and if we are to get freedom, dare we are ! But, if 
we run away, and go to New Orleans, like dem crazy niggers, 
where is we ? " 

It may be here observed a good number of the slaves, from 
both towns and plantations had left their masters, and gone to 
New Orleans with the Federals — many of them not having 
run away, but gone with the full consent of their masters ; 
and after being in New Orleans for some time they, with inuch 
difficulty, found their way back to their masters, in a state of 
great wretchedness and destitution. 

Another planter, a Mr. B., read the proclamation to his 
slaves, in my hearing ; but he put it before them in rather a 
different way. 

He pointed out to them that part of the proclamation which 
set forth that it was only in such parts of the States as were 
in rebellion against the United States, that were to be free ; 
and in all other parts, held by the Federal forces, they were 
still to be slaves. 

" This place," said he, " is uncertain. Both parties claim it, 
and we don't know which Government it is under. If it is 
under Lincoln's Government, then he says in that proclama- 
tion that you are to be slaves ; but if it is under Jefferson 
Davis's Government, then he (Lincoln) says in that proclama- 
tion that you are to be free. So I can't tell you what you are 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 431 

to be until we see which government we are going to be under. 
But there is one thing that I can tell you, that is, if you are 
within Jefferson Davis's country Mr. Lincoln says you are to 
be free, though I doubt it very much, because he has not the 
power there to make you free. But if you are in New Orleans 
or any place within the lines held by Mr. Lincoln's armies, 
then Mr. Lincoln says you are to be slaves, and there is 
no doubt about that, because he has there the power to 
make and keep you slaves. So there is the proclamation, and 
you can read it for yourselves, or get any person you like to 
read it for you, and see if they can make anything else out of 
it," and he handed them the proclamation. 

Of course this was only an ingenious way of showing up the 
proclamation and turning it into ridicule, but it must be 
admitted that it was a little open to ridicule. 

In January, 1863, the Mississippi River began to rise a little, 
so that the Federal gunboats could command the country on 
both sides, and Baton Rouge was again occupied by the Federal 
troops and the country was now under Lincoln's rule. This 
settled the question as to whether the negroes were to be free 
or slaves in the districts ; not, as one would almost fly to the 
conclusion, that they were to be free, but on the contrary, 
strange as it may appear, that they were to be slaves, in accord- 
ance with the proclamation, as that part of the country could 
not be said to be in rebellion against the United States, and 
had been occupied for some months by the Federal forces, and 
had never been actually abandoned by them and re-occupied 
by the Confederate forces. 

Of course this allusion to the proclamation is only to show 
the absurdity of it ; for it was never regarded or acted upon 
either by the slaveowners, or the slaves, or the United States 
officers, and only in one instance did I ever hear of any 
attempt being made to carry out the order even in its mildest 
form. 

In this case the United States officers fell into a trap not 
very honourably laid, and not laid by any respectable 
Confederate authority, but by the guerillas and negroes. 

The officers of the gunboat Essex, which was in the habit of 
going up and down the river, at a point some 14 miles above 
Baton Rouge on the west side of the river, on what was con- 
sidered Confederate territory, saw a party of negroes on the 
river bank, apparently fugitive slaves, waving to them for 



432 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

assistance. The commander, in compliance with the order set 
forth in the proclamation, immediately stopped and sent a 
boat ashore to take them off to his vessel ; but no sooner had 
the boat touched the bank, than the negroes ran and hid 
behind the embankment, and a party of guerillas from behind 
the embankment opened fire upon the boat's crew. But, as 
usual ^vith these miscreants, they did not succeed in doing- 
much damage. 

This, however, put a stop to any further attempts to render 
assistance to fugitives in that district. 

The proclamation, after the first little excitement and 
indignation had passed away, became a dead letter ; and, 
though not formally -withdrawn, was smothered over, and 
little referred to within the Federal lines — the Federal 
officers seeming to feel ashamed of it ; while within the Con- 
federate lines, and by those opposed to Mr. Lincoln in other 
places, it was brought up as a reproach against and a stain 
upon his name. 

Such was the proclamation to which some would attach such 
great magnanimity, and which I would rather not have 
referred to, but I think there has been altogether too much 
said about this so-called generous act of emancipating the 
slaves. While situated, as I was at the time it was issued, I 
could not help hearing the comments and severe criticisms 
upon it, witnessing the feeling it created, and being satisfied 
of its inconsistency, inapplicability, and complete futility, to 
say nothing more. 

But I only put forth the comments and criticisms as I heard 
them, and its operation and effects, only so far as I witnessed 
them. Of course there may have been something in it far 
beyond the comprehension of my ideas. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

EE-OCCUPATION OF BATON EOTJGE BY THE FEDERAL TROOPS— THAT DISTRICT 
AGAIN IN COMMUNICATION WITH NEW ORLEANS — PRODUCE SENT TO 
MARKET— SEIZURES AND CONFISCATIONS— DEPARTURE OF BUTLER FROM 
NEW ORLEANS — A REVIEW OF SOME OF HIS ACTS IN THAT CITY — HIS 
FOLLOWERS DON't FOLLOW HIM — GENERAL BANKS TAKES COMMAND — 
VIEW OF A NIGHT ATTACK ON PORT HUDSON BY THE FLEET — OVERFLOW 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER— RETURN TO NEW ORLEANS. 

Through the occupation of Baton Rouge by the Federal 
troops, the whole of that country to which I refer was brought 
within the Federal lines, and the communication between these 
parts and New Orleans was now less restricted, and I again 
could come and go to and from the city, still passing as a 
foreigner and a neutral, and occasionally transacting business 
for planters who did not deem it quite safe to venture into the 
lion's mouth. 

Many of the planters and small farmers now tried to get 
their produce to market and have it turned into money, as it 
was by no means safe on the farms or plantations. It was 
subject either to be burned by the guerillas, or seized by 
Butler's speculators, and a good deal of cotton and sugar found 
its way to New Orleans, though often under extreme difficul- 
ties, and even when it got there it was still very far from being 
safe. The seizure of cotton when landed in the city was the 
invariable rule. The article commanded such a high price that 
Butler's officials always contrived to show that some breach of 
regulation had been committed, and that the goods were liable 
to seizure and confiscation. These seizures were made with so 
little regard to law or justice that the artifice of having the 
produce transferred through the agency of a foreign subject was 
often resorted to. This might save it from total confiscation ; 
still it was subjected to numerous stoppages and detentions, 
which could only be got over by the payment of heavy bribes. 

Early in 1863 a change took place in the command at 'New 
Orleans. Butler left, and his place was taken by General 
Banks. I am not certain whether Butler was superseded, or 
whether he retired of his own accord, after having filled his 

2e 



434 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

■coffers. His departure was certainly hailed with universal joy 
by the inhabitants, and his administration there should at 
least occupy a prominent place in the history of that city. 

It was supposed by many that his selection and appointment 
^s the absolute ruler of New Orleans was an act of retribution 
most deliberately planned, and that to punish a proud and 
arrogant people was the object for which he was sent there. 
Whether that was the case or not I cannot say ; but if such 
was really the object there certainly could not have been a 
better selection made. " Set a thief to catch a thief," is an 
old adage, and so it may be said " Employ the devil to punish 
the devil." 

Butler could never be regarded as one of the Federal 
generals, from a military point of view. He ventured but 
rarely to act in the field, and when he did he showed such 
incapacity and cowardice that he stood virtually disgraced. 
All this was counterbalanced by his high proficiency in a war 
of words, and few dared to bring against him a "railing 
accusation." 

He was not embarrassed by any sensitive feelings. He had 
no shame and made no secret of his cowardice ; and however 
incongruous this might be with the title he had assumed as a 
military general, still, he possessed a great amount of courage 
■of a certain kind, but whether it might be called true moral 
courage may be another question. He seemed to say, " I am 
not such a fool as to expose my person to danger. I can 
manage my point better without doing so, and if I am attacked 
by the world's censures, I am quite impervious to any wounds 
from such weapons; whilst I am an adept in the use of them." 

If he had no skill or strategy in military matters he certainly 
possessed both, to a high degree, in political and criminal mat- 
ters ; and if he could not organise or command an army of 
soldiers, few could equal him in organising an army of spies 
and detectives. 

The knowledge he acquired of every man in New Orleans, 
of his business, his means at command, his property in real 
estate, in money, in merchandise, house furniture, plate, or 
other valuables ; his sentiments, circle of acquaintances, and 
everyday actions were truly incredible. 

He of course had absolute power, which he did not fail to 
a, vail himself of, and he made many harsh experiments. 

It was not Butler's maxim that " better ten guilty should 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 435 

escape than one innocent be punished," but better that ten 
innocent should be punished than one guilty should escape. 

There were, no doubt, many acts and outrages committed by 
Butler in New Orleans which never went into print or saw the 
light, and perhaps, many things were said of him which were 
grossly exaggerated, or never happened at all ; and many of 
his orders, bad as they were, were made more grievous by the 
way in which they were carried out through his minions. 

I may mention one or two things which came especially 
under my notice. 

Butler had a great terror of being assassinated while in New 
Orleans. He seldom showed himself in public, he travelled to 
and from his residence in a close carriage, surrounded by 
guards; and, as a further security to his person, he issued an 
order disarming the citizens, and commanding all arms of 
whatever kind to be delivered up before a certain day, and 
if any arms or weapons were found in possession of any 
person whatever, or on or within the premises of any person, 
after that date, without a special permission, such person 
should be subject to a heavy penalty and imprisonment. 

There were perhaps none of his orders that were enforced 
with such rigour as this, and some of the instances attending 
them were notable. As an instance of several I knew of, one 
in particular I may mention, as showing the injustice which 
may be done in carrying out an arbitrary order through means 
of a depraved and unprincipled agency — always, of course, in 
the name of and for the good of the people, as all these orders 
were declared to be. 

A Mr. U., a gentleman of good standing and reputation, 
who was a Scotchman by birth, but who had been for a great 
many years a citizen of New Orleans, and greatly respected, 
had taken no part in the Secession movement, but when 
the troubles broke out had given up business and lived in 
retirement. 

A short time after this order was in force his house was 
entered by a party of Butler's detectives, and he was charged 
with having arms concealed, in violation of the order. Mr. U., 
knowing the charge to be groundless, told them to search the 
premises. They went immediately into his back court, turned 
over some lumber and took out an old fowling-piece, which it 
was easy to see had been recently put there. This was suffi- 
cient, and Mr. U. was dragged off to prison. It was in vain 



436 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



that he protested that he knew nothing of the article being 
there, and that it had been put there without his knowledge, 

Mr. U. was kept in jail until he had paid a very large sum 
of money by way of ransom. 

The information had been given by his negro servant who, 
probably, instigated by others, had put the article there, and 
then laid the information in order to get the reward of his 
treachery. Of such cases there were innumerable instances. 

Some of Butler's acts however showed a considerable amount 
of astuteness and tact, and were less to be condemned. 

At the commencement of the Avar a good many of the 
wealthy merchants of New Orleans, in order to show their 
patriotism and zeal in the cause, subscribed large sums of 
money to aid in fitting out the armies and otherwise promoting 
the movement. Extensive lists had appeared in the news- 
papers with the names of those gentlemen, and opposite to 
them the sums contributed by each, varjdng from 100 dollars 
to 10,000 dollars. Butler, having secured one of those docu- 
ments, and having spotted the subscribers, first carefully and 
fully ascertained the extent of their means. Then he issued 
an order in which he most courteously complimented these 
gentlemen on their liberality, and represented to them the 
state of misery and privation which had been brought about 
by the war, and the thousands of unemployed starving people 
that were now in the city, and other requirements in the city 
which must be attended to. He then made out another Kst of 
these gentlemen's names, and opposite each name he appended 
a sum which he called upon them to immediately pay. These 
sums varied a little, according to the extent of means which he 
knew the parties to be possessed of, but they were generally in 
proportion to the sum formerly subscribed by the parties to 
the Confederate cause, and amounted on an average to con- 
siderably over double that sum. 

These men so mulcted well knew the alternative and paid 
the sum promptly with the best grace they could afibrd. 

Butler, no doubt, applied the money towards the object for 
which he collected it, after having deducted his commission for 
trouble, expenses, etc. 

But there was one act of Butler's, for which many expressed 
their admiration, and it was a pretty fair illustration of setting 
the devil to punish the devil. 

I have often had to refer to a class of men who were pro mi- 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 437 

nent in bringing on this war, but whose conduct afterwards 
was cowardly and disgraceful in the extreme — I mean the 
agitating political demagogues and swaggering fire-eaters, who 
took such an active part in the Secession movement, and 
drowned in their clamorous howl every breath of reason or 
common-sense. These men, when the war broke out, took 
especial care to keep out of danger, but what they lacked in 
courage they made up in shameless effrontery. They displayed 
their zeal and patriotism by breathing out threatenings and 
slaughter against Lincoln and his abolition hordes, and often 
cursing their bad fortune that some important state business, 
or other cause, prevented them from going to the front, and 
always hoping to be able to get to the front in a few days, and 
then it must be up to the very front, to the enemy's very teeth. 
Somehow they always managed to put off going, until the 
Conscript Act was passed, and then it w^as supposed some of 
them would be caught. But just then New Orleans and a 
large part of the Confederacy fell into the hands of the enemy 
and become enclosed within the Federal lines, and within these 
lines they contrived to keep, where they were safe from con- 
scription. Some of them, with a view to obtaining favour or 
office, immediately gave in their adherence to the Federal 
Government and took the oath of allegiance. Others knew 
they had no chance of favour with the Federals, and in the 
hope that the Confederates would yet succeed made a great 
show of their zeal in the Secession cause, and posed as prisoners 
of war and martyrs. 

New Orleans was full of these swaggering braggarts. They 
strutted about the cafes, acting the part of caged lions, herald- 
ing reports of great Confederate victories, and lamenting their 
stars that they were confined here as prisoners of war, and 
could not get out to join the Confederate army ; and denounc- 
ing and recording the names of those who took the oath of 
allegiance ; while they themselves were boasting loudly of 
some gallant feat which they had done in calling the name of 
some Confederate general at a street-corner, or in a cafe. 

But Butler took little notice of such bladders of wind. He 
knew they had no money, and there was nothing to be got out 
of them and were not worth arresting. As they were men 
something after his own nature, though with less cunning, he 
knew exactly what to do with them. He allowed them to 
have their way for a short time. They boasted loudly of their 



438 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

fidelity to the Confederate cause, and denounced as traitors 
such as took the oath of allegiance to the Federal Govern- 
ment. As they were not arrested they became bolder, and 
bragged of their defiant expressions. Butler in the meantime 
had them all spotted, was ready to pounce upon them, and 
suddenly swept down upon them and had them arrested. 
Knowing their cowardice he gave them the alternative of tak- 
ing the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government, and 
having their names put on a list and published in the news- 
papers ; or, to declare themselves enemies to the United States 
and go at once and join the Confederate army, and they would 
be immediately sent over the lines and delivered over to the 
nearest Confederate provost-marshal. 

It is needless to say that this put an end to their bounce. 
The fear of being sent to that army which they pretended to 
have been so wishful of joining made them quake. I did not 
hear of any of them being sent across the lines, but some 
chuckled at the list in the newspapers of the names of so 
many desperate fire-eaters, who had been so suddenly con- 
verted ; and it was remarked that, if Butler had made many 
thousands of Union men become Confederates, he had at least 
made some professed Confederates become Union men, though 
it might be doubtful if the Union gained much by the transfer. 

This act was regarded as a masterly stroke of Butler's, in 
thus dealing with such men ; and it would have been univer- 
sally commended had he stopped there and carried it no 
further. But seemingly acting on the effect of this, he conceived 
the idea of f oUo^ving it up by a more comprehensive scheme of 
the same kind. 

He next issued an order commanding all the inhabitants of 
New Orleans, and within his jurisdiction, male and female, 
who were not certified subjects of any foreign power, to report 
on or before a certain day, at the provost-marshal's offices, or 
other places assigned for the purpose, and then and there 
declare themselves to be enemies of the United States, and be 
registered as such ; or, to take a certain prescribed oath, and 
receive a certificate of loyalty. This oath, wliich was called 
the " ironclad oath," embraced many heavy obligations and 
penalties which were so utterly repugnant to the feelings and 
sentiments of the population that there seemed to be a 
universal determination to resist it. Again it was considered 
what might be their fate if they registered themselves as 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 439 

enemies of the United States ; or, worse still, if they failed to 
comply with the terms of the order and not appear ; the fear 
of certain imprisonment for an unlimited period, and total 
confiscation of property caused many to reflect. 

There was also a certain form of oath for subjects of foreign 
powers, by which they bound themselves to remain neutral so 
long as their country remained at peace with the United 
States, 

There was nothing oppressive or unreasonable in the " alien 
oath," as it was called. Neither was it compulsory on aliens 
to take it, but they were advised to do so for their better 
protection. So hateful had the name of oaths become that I 
believe very few did take it, at least of British subjects. 

But there were great demands upon the consuls for certifi- 
cates, and parties were trying to procure evidence to prove 
that they were aliens, who not many years before would have 
been ofiended at being called aliens, and had avowed them- 
selves citizens, having the right to vote. 

As for the less fortunate American citizens they were in a 
sad quandary. As this was the last chance allowed them to 
take the oath and save themselves, most of them at the last 
moment succumbed to the terms of the "ironclad oath," excusing 
and consoling themselves with the idea that on several of the 
points they maintained a mental reservation. 

A large number, however, upheld their dignity and regis- 
tered themselves as enemies of the United States, which they 
probably had cause to repent of afterwards, as within a few 
days an order was issued for them to be put across the lines 
into the Confederacy, and they were not allowed to take with 
them any property of any kind, watches or valuables of the 
smallest kind, not even a change of linen. 

The time allowed them to prepare was very short. Their 
household goods were not confiscated, but the alternative was 
little better. Many families whose means were limited had to 
send their effects to auction mart. 

The only auction marts now allowed to be open in the city 
were in the hands of such vultures as followed the army and 
were privileged by Butler, and the sales were a perfect mockery. 
An auctioneer brought up a few of his followers, and going up 
to and closing round articles of the value of over 100 dollars, 
would cry out, "Who bids?" Bids would be made of one 
dollar, and knocked down at a dollar and a half, and pass on 



440 



LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



to the next. Anyone who would dare to bid outside of the 
circle or remonstrate or interfere in any way would be jostled, 
thrust out, or arrested and marched off to prison, charged with 
treason, sedition, or inciting to riot, and the people, who had 
considered their effects worth over 1000 dollars, might, if they 
were exceedingly meek and humble, after paying commissions 
and expenses, receive a balance of 20 or 30 dollars. 

There is not the slightest exaggeration in the description I 
have given of these transactions, and there were hundreds of 
such sales. Many I myself witnessed. 

Such actions were loudly denounced by all respectable people 
both North and South, but the perpetrators, like Butler him- 
self, had no shame, and if they got the money in their pockets 
they cared little for the world's censure. 

General Banks, who succeeded Butler in the command at 
New Orleans, was a man of a different stamp from Butler, 
although not very well qualified to take command of the city 
in the state in which Butler had left it. 

The numerous followers and parasites of Butler did not see 
so much to admire in him when he had no longer the command. 
They did not leave the city with him, but remained behind, 
presuming, now that the lion was gone, they would have the 
plunder to themselves. 

I may here remark that some three years after this I hap- 
pened to be on board of a steamer at Nassau, New Providence, 
where I observed some negro boatmen who were alongside 
throwing over some meat to an enormous shark which they 
named " Butler." On my asking them why they applied such 
a name to an honest shark, they said that it was because he 
kept away all the other sharks from the bay so as to have all 
the prey for himself, and they found it much safer to have 
only one large shark than a shoal of smaller ones. 

General Banks was a man of milder disposition, and did not 
find it necessary to lay down any extreme measures or enact- 
ments, and he did not himself engage, so far as I knew, in any 
acts of extortion or plunder. But he was altogether too mild 
a man to grapple with the state of things then existing in 
New Orleans. 

It was supposed that Butler had sufficiently punished the 
rebels in New Orleans, and that Banks should act more in the 
military capacity and take the field and act against the Con- 
federates at Port Hudson, while Grant acted against them 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 441 

at Vicksburg ; and, by subduing these two places, would open 
up again the Mississippi River, and once more cut the Con- 
federacy in two and stop the Confederates from all communi- 
cation with the States west of the Mississippi ; the plan being 
to advance upon the rear of those places and surround them, 
and by cutting off their supplies starve them into submission. 
This might have been easily done as regarded Port Hudson, 
with the large forces they had at command. 

But Banks was not much of a general ; he had actually been 
chased out of Virginia by Stonewall Jackson ; but he was a 
strong abolitionist and that was supposed to have got him the 
appointment. 

The myriads of speculators who had come to New Orleans 
during Butler's reign, contented then to pick up the crumbs 
which was all that Butler allowed them, now revelled under 
Banks, who, though he did not himself plunder, seemed unable 
to check it in others ; and Louisiana, instead of being like the 
bay of Nassau, having only one large shark, had now whole 
shoals of them. The great thing sought after was cotton, 
which had now got to be an enormous price outside the Con- 
federate lines, while within the Confederate lines it was a drug 
stored up in millions of bales. It was currently reported, and 
I have good reason to believe that there w^as some truth in it, 
that, while Banks was trying to reduce Port Hudson by 
starvation, some of his own commissary staff, in league with 
a few of Butler's well-trained patriots, were delivering at 
certain places for the use of the besieged fort, hundreds of tons 
of supplies, and receiving in return an equivalent in cotton. 

Vicksburg and Port Hudson were also receiving supplies 
from the West by way of Bed River, and it was deemed of 
great importance that Port Hudson should be reduced so as 
to enable the gunboats to get up the Red River and stop 
supplies coming through that source, and an attack upon Port 
Hudson by the fleet was resolved upon. 

Port Hudson was a small town on the left or east side of the 
river. It was situated upon the bluffs or high banks of the 
river, which here rise almost perpendicularly from the water 
edge to a height of about 150 feet. From this place a railway 
extended into the interior about thirty miles, and previous to 
the war a good deal of cotton was shipped here. The river in 
front was rather narrower than the average breadth, being 
only about three-quarters a mile in width, and on the side next 



442 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

the town was deep and rapid, but on the west side it was 
shallow, and when the water was low a large sandbank lay 
bare. About two miles below Port Hudson there is an island 
called Prophet's Island, which is the first island met with on 
ascending the Mississippi. It is about two miles in length, 
and situated near the middle of the river, and when the river 
was high, steamers passed on either side, but the main passage 
was on the west. 

On the blufis at Port Hudson, overlooking and commanding 
the river, batteries, mounted with heavy guns, had recently 
been erected, which debarred the Federal gunboats from 
ascending, and these forts it was now sought to reduce. 

I happened to witness this attack which took place during 
the night, and was rather an imposing sight, being like a 
gigantic but grim display of fireworks. I may give a short 
description of it as seen from a distance. 

The Mississippi had been rising rapidly, and it was known 
that there were some breaks in the embankments on the west 
side near Port Hudson, and with some of the proprietors I had 
been up there inspecting the embankments to see if there was 
any possibility of preventing an overflow. While there we 
became aware of the contemplated attack, and watched the 
movements. 

On the day preceding the attack a number of mortar 
schooners were towed up the river and anchored on the west 
side of Prophet's Island, where they could not be seen from 
Port Hudson. Towards evening the whole fleet, which had 
been rendezvoused at Baton Rouge steamed up the river. This 
fleet, which amounted to about 16 vessels in all, consisted of 
frigates and ocean-going gunboats. As I wished to see the 
attack, I with one or two others rode over the overflowed land 
to a suitable place, where we had a good view of the action. It 
was dark by the time the fleet reached Prophet's Island, where 
they remained for several hours at anchor ; what they were 
doing we could not see. It was getting near midnight. The 
night was dark; everything was quiet; not a sound was heard, 
or a spark seen about Port Hudson, or where the fleet was 
concentrated, and we were beginning to wonder whether the 
attack would be made that night, when, suddenly, a rocket 
went up from Port Hudson, and almost immediately afterwards 
a great blaze flamed up all along the embankment, on the west 
side of the river. This, as it had been intended to do, lighted 



IN THE SOUTH DUEING THE WAR. 443 

up the river in front of the forts and disclosed the advancing 
fleet. Ahnost immediately afterwards a heavy fire was opened 
from the mortar schooners, which had in the interval been 
towed up and anchored above Prophet's Island and within 
range of the forts, and a storm of shells which showed in the 
darkness like streams of rockets were showered upon the forts. 

The fleet seemed to advance in two lines, keeping two and 
two nearly abreast. The first was the frigate Hartford^ Admiral 
Farragut's ship ; and the Albatross, which I think was a paddle 
steamer, but I could not be certain. Next followed the 
Mississippi, a large paddle frigate, and another, which I think 
was the Monongahela. The rest, the names of which I did not 
know, or don't now remember, followed in quick succession. 

It was obvious that Farragut intended to pursue his 
favourite tactics in not damaging his fleet by lying in front of 
a fort, but attaining his object, if possible, by sailing past it. 
The vessels, seemingly under a full head of steam, advanced 
rapidly up the river, pouring their broadsides into the forts as 
they passed. But the blazing pine knots on the top of the 
embankment on the west so effectually lighted up the river 
that the ships were distinctly seen, and the strategy of passing 
the forts under the cover of darkness was defeated. 

The forts now opened fire upon the ships with telling effect. 
The Hartford, with her consort the Albatross, succeeded in 
getting past, but the next pair were not so fortunate. There 
was evidently something wrong with them. The plunging fire 
from the forts at such a short distance and high elevation had 
penetrated their vital parts. The frigate Mississippi j^seemed 
doomed to perish in the river she was named after, for keeping 
too near the w^estern side she grounded on the bank. The 
Monongahela was disabled and drifted helplessly back with 
the current and fouled the ships which were following. Before 
she could be got out of the way some of the other ships which had 
tried to pass up were also disabled, and drifting back with the 
strong current made more confusion. Farragut, who was now 
up safe past the forts with his own ship and the Albatross, kept 
signalling for the other ships to follow, but this was easier said 
than done. The forts were pouring a tremendous fire upon the 
foremost ships, thus in confusion and foul of each other; while 
the rearmost ships and the mortar schooners kept up a heavy 
fire upon the forts. 

In the meantime the Mississippi lay aground ahead of the 



444 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

other ships, and in the very focus of the fire from the forts, 
and could not get off, and she was abandoned. 

And here was again displayed that spirit of reckless 
destruction which was often carried to madness, on both sides, 
during this war. When they abandoned the vessel they set 
fire to her. This seemed to me to be at the time a foolish act, 
when the water was known to be rising rapidly. The flames 
lighted up the river clear as day, and endangered greatly the 
advance up the river, and exposed the other ships to the full 
view and fire from the forts, which was now more deadly than 
ever. While the Mississippi frigate was thus in full blaze her 
capricious namesake, the Mississippi River, whose sympathies 
seemed to have again gone with the Confederates, continued 
to rise and floated her off, and the huge vessel, which was of 
great length and blazing from stem to stern, s^vung round and 
drifted broadside on down upon the vessels below. This made 
confusion worse confounded, and the whole fleet had to get 
away from the danger. Disabled steamers were quickly taken 
in tow by others. The mortar schooners cut their cables and 
dropped down the river, and all further attempts to pass the 
forts were abandoned. 

It was now about two o'clock a.m. ; we had been watching 
the proceedings from the upper windows of a sugar factory a 
little below the place, and as the country was fast being over- 
flowed and the driest part was the road close to the bank, we 
wished to get down that way before the burning ship drifted 
too close upon us, as we knew the explosion of the magazine 
must soon take place, and, though we wished to see it, we 
did not wish to be too near it. 

We mounted our horses and galloped down to a safe distance 
and waited there. The dim lines of the ships of the disordered 
fleet could be seen in the darkness as they made their way 
down the river, keeping out of the way of the burning ship, 
which seemed to follow them up like an avenging spirit seeking 
to punish them for their wanton act in setting her on fire. 

The firing had now ceased and all was quiet, and nothing was 
to be seen but the burning vessel as it drifted down the river 
with the current. Suddenly a tremendous explosion shook 
the air and filled it with millions of sparks and burning frag- 
ments of the vessel, lighting up the country for miles around 
as if ten thousand great rockets had been sent up, falling 
hissing into the river and on the land on both sides. In a few 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 445 

seconds all was still, and only a denser darkness caused by 
the smoke marked the place where the floating conflagration 
had been. 

We now made our way home ; of course we could not tell 
exactly from what we had seen how the matter stood. We 
knew that Farragut's ship had got past the forts. Whether 
it was much damaged or not we could not tell. How many 
vessels got with him we were uncertain : some thought three 
had passed up, others thought only two. We all knew the 
frigate Mississippi and that it was she that had come to grief, 
and we had seen other ships disabled and mixed up in confusion 
and the main body of the fleet getting down the river, chased, 
as it were, by a dangerous enemy in the form of one of their 
own ships, which they had set fire to rather precipitately. And 
I must confess that we were all so disgusted at this wanton 
habit of burning and destroying property that we wished the 
burning ship would speed down upon them as a just retribu- 
tion for such reckless and often quite unnecessary destruction. 

My business in this part of the country was now at an end. 
It was quite plain that nothing could be done to prevent an 
overflow of the country, while the river continued to rise with 
such rapidity, and it was now certain that it would continue 
to do so and remain liigh for some months. The only thing 
for the people to do was to remove to higher places, or such of 
them as had floors several feet above the level of the ground, 
which most of the houses had, to move all their efiects up there 
and content themselves to live there surrounded by the water, 
with skifis or canoes tied at their doors to maintain communi- 
cation with the dry land. 

Most of the people remained in their houses surrounded by 
the water, thinking no doubt that in these troublesome times 
they were safer there than anjnvhere else. 

The cattle, like the people, were accustomed to overflows, 
and generally found their way to the river embankments, 
where the land was highest. I may here say that the fall of 
the land away from the Mississippi River w^as such that in 
these overflows the water close to the bank would be only a few 
inches deep, while at a distance of a mile back it would be 
fully two feet deep. 

I had waited up at this place a little longer than I intended 
in order to see the attack on Port Hudson, and a break had 
taken place in the river embankment lower down, and I had a 



446 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

little difficulty in getting to Baton Rouge, which I did, how- 
ever, in course of time and took steamer for New Orleans. 

When I got to New Orleans I found the general topic of 
conversation was the attack on Port Hudson. As might be 
supposed, each party had their own version of it. 

The Federal newspapers represented it as a victory, and 
columns were headed in large type : " Successful attack on 
Port Hudson ;" " Farragut at his old tricks again f " He sails 
past the forts." 

The Confederate party, in their quiet conversations, triumphed 
over it as a crushing defeat to the Federals, and represented 
the fleet as being driven back with heavy damage, and Farragut 
with his two ships completely cut off and hemmed in on the 
river between the two strongholds Vicksburg and Port Hudson, 
and could neither go up nor down, and must inevitably fall 
into the hands of the Confederates. 

The fleet had certainly been defeated and driven back with 
considerable damage, and Farragut was no doubt in a critical 
position. But the rats had got into the house, and might do 
much damage and not be easily caught. 

Farragut was a man of great resources and determination. 
If he had found his position desperate he would have attempted 
to run down past the forts, for which he could have chosen a 
favourable opportunity, and it would have been easier to run 
down with the strong current of the river than to run up 
against it. If he had fuel and stores sufficient he had about 
300 miles of the Mississippi and several miles of Red River 
navigable for his ships. If the river continued high, as it was 
now likely to do for some months, there would be a passage 
for small vessels by way of Atchafalia, by which he might 
receive fuel and supplies, although no doubt there would be 
some opposition from the Confederates to be met on that 
route. But, with that overcome, or if he could hold out for a 
time, he could effectually stop all supplies being sent into 
Vicksburg and Port Hudson by way of the river, and, as both 
these places were being now closely invested on the land side 
and both short of supplies, they must inevitably fall through 
starvation. 

I did not remain in the country to witness the result, but 
learned afterwards that the ships Hartford and Albatross held 
out and maintained possession of the river until both Vicks- 
burg and Port Hudson succumbed through sheer starvation. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

FINANCIAL MATTERS IN NEW ORLEANS— INSECURITY OF PROPERTY— DEPRE- 
CIATION OF THE CURRENCY— I TAKE MY LEAVE AND GET TO SEA — 
CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

It was now getting towards the summer of 1863, and it was 
quite plain that whichever way the war would terminate the 
cost was going to be alarming. Whether it was going to 
result in one or two nations, it was certain that the one or 
both must be loaded with a crushing debt, which, to redeem, 
would be almost impossible. 

Many of the old standing people of New Orleans and 
particularly those who had retired from business, and stood 
as neutral, were considering what was best to be done to 
preserve their substance, and in what form it would be best 
to have it put to be safe. 

The result of the war was still uncertain. Property was not 
safe. The city might be destroyed at any moment. There 
was no security against war risks. No corporation or company 
was secure. Specie had entirely disappeared. Butler had 
by an edict declared United States currency (greenbacks) 
to be the only legal tender. The banks were all shut up — 
their notes not in circulation, and any that were in circulation 
not being a legal tender were, of course, classed below the 
rates of the United States currency. The enormous amount 
of the United States debt had shaken confidence. Gold and 
silver being no longer a tender in commerce, became articles to 
be bought and sold, and were bulled and beared by reports got 
up of victories or defeats. It was, therefore, hard to get and 
dangerous to hide, and safe nowhere. Merchandise, or other 
valuables, were subject to seizure or plunder ; United States 
bonds or currency constantly depreciating in value and might 
yet be repudiated. 

It was, therefore, sometimes a little amusing to hear the 
different ideas of what form, in which means or substance, 
could be best placed to be secure. 

One gentleman told me that he had invested in a large lot 
of Scotch fire-bricks. He said they were fire proof and would 



448 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

not burn, and too cumbersome to be seized or plundered, 
and if the city was burned they would be in demand to build 
it up again. Another gentleman, on a similar principle, 
invested in a quantity of pig iron; another, in a large 
quantity of building sand ; and many similar investments 
were made, each having his own peculiar idea of what would 
be safest. 

The quotations for gold now ranged from 200 to 250 per 
cent, premium — foreign exchange still higher and scarcely to 
be got in New Orleans, Such a rush had been made to turn 
greenbacks into specie by investing in cotton and shipping to 
foreign countries that cotton had been run up to a fabulous 
price, and the shipping of it or any goods to foreign countries 
was hedged round with high charges, stringent regulations, and 
restrictions, that it was almost impossible for anyone to do it 
without having some influence with the officials. 

I now determined to make an effiDrt to get out of the country, 
and having disposed of all my rights, and interests, and claims 
with my business partners, I, mth some others, invested in a 
small schooner, and having obtained for her a provisional 
register loaded her for the West Indies, 

It would be endless to recount the numerous examinations 
and stoppages to which we were subjected before being allowed 
to proceed. Having at length by means of bribes and other 
devices got a clearance, we thought we had overcome our diffi- 
culties, but just as we were about to clear out of the harbour 
we were boarded by still another official. This was a sort of 
harbour watchman, whose business it was to take the names 
of all vessels which left the harbour and report them at the 
Customhouse. This was a sort of sinecure office, and had been 
given to an Americanised Irishman, as a sop to the Irish 
element, which was then in great demand to fill up the ranks 
of the army. This official assumed airs of great importance. 
He had discovered that the vessel had a name on her stern, 
but not the name of the hailing port. He was informed that 
the vessel was under a provisional register, and therefore could 
not have a hailing port. But he stood upon his dignity, and 
probably expecting to get his hand crossed by a five-dollar note 
he declared the vessel should not be allowed to proceed until 
she had the name of a hailing port on her stern. Knowing 
the extent of his power, and that this was all he could demand, 
a boat was lowered, and a seaman directed to letter on the 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 449 

stern, in the best way he could, the name of the nearest 
British sea-port, which was Belize, Honduras, where we 
intended going. This being done, the official had to be 
satisfied, and we proceeded. 

There were still the forts near the mouth of the river to pass, 
and when we reached them we were warned by a gun to bring 
to, and ordered to remain at anchor till further instructions 
came from New Orleans. We dropped anchor, but the current 
was so strong that the anchor would not bring the vessel up, 
and she drifted for some distance past the forts. We made 
every apparent efibrt to bring the vessel up, and no further 
warning was given from the fort ; but the vessel continued to 
drag her anchor. Whether this was observed from the fort or 
not I do not know, but night came on and darkness closed 
around, and we were out of sight of the forts, and the wind 
being favourable we took up the anchor and made sail, and by 
daylight next morning we were out of sight of land, glad to 
escape from further detention. 

The reason of our being stopped at the forts was, as I after- 
wards learned, in consequence of orders being telegraphed from 
New Orleans to stop the vessel. 

It seemed that the seaman, in roughly painting the name of 
the hailing port on the stern of the vessel, found that he would 
not have room for the whole of the name, "Belize, Honduras," 
and he was told to abbreviate the last word, and put " Belize, 
Hon." He being still a little short of room, and being no 
great artist, had finished it in a rather cramped way, thus : 
" Belizehon." This the official mistook for " Babylon," having 
probably heard of the latter place, but not of the former; and 
he accordingly reported at the Customhouse, as having passed 
down the river, the " Roh Roy of Babylon." 

It might have been easily seen that this was a mistake, but 
official interference was rampant. At that time the atmosphere 
of New Orleans was pregnant with rumours of the most extra- 
vagant kind of some contemplated attack upon the city, from 
an outside source, through some Confederate agency, and the 
least unusual movement was construed into a connection with 
some plot for some raid or attack upon the city. There being 
in New Orleans no consul for such a place as Babylon, and 
whether it was on account of this irregularity, or whether 
there was something ominous in the name, as suggestive of 
some meditated descent upon the city, by some Rob Roy, or, 

2f ' 



450 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Nebuchadnezzar, I do not know ; but, orders were immediately 
telegraphed to the forts to stop the suspicious craft ! 

The commander at the forts was probably disgusted at the 
frequent annoyance he was put to in stopping vessels at the 
instance of the corrupt officials at the port, and knowing that 
in most, if not in all, cases it was only a device to extort bribes 
from the owners or agents of vessels ; and having no steamer 
at hand to follow and board vessels if they drifted past, and 
he would not be justified in firing into a foreign vessel, if she 
used every endeavour to bring up, and the anchor would not 
hold in the strong current. He also knew that the acts and 
character of the offi.cials would not stand investigation, so he 
gave himself little trouble in the matter ; and this was the 
way so little notice was taken of us, and we were allowed to 
slip ofi" to sea. 

Having now got out to sea, I felt as if in a new atmosphere, 
and somewhat relieved at getting away from the turmoil of 
war, and, what was more unpleasant, the overbearing official 
tyranny of those in office, and the disgusting jobbery and 
corruption which seemed to prevail in what was now called 
the business circle, which had taken the place of the good old 
substantial and honourable men that were to be found on 
'Change in New Orleans before the war. 

Here ended my experience and participation in the more 
stirring events of this war. 

I several times after this during the war visited the Con- 
federate ports and had a good opportunity of knowing the 
state of matters; but, as I confine myself in this narrative 
only to what came under my own personal observation, I leave 
history to history writers. 

When I got out of the country I had time to reflect upon 
and review the events of the last three years and the fearful 
wreck which had been wrought during that time ; and, in 
closing this narrative, I venture to give a very limited expres- 
sion of the opinions and impressions which experience forced 
upon me and which have been confirmed by many years of 
reflection afterwards. 

Of course such opinions may be of little value, and can take 
no place beside the more comprehensive views of men of higher 
attainments ; but, as the impressions which were forced upon 
me might be forced upon others, if passed through the same 
ordeal, I give them for what they may be worth. 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 451 

It seemed to me that the fearful wreck which had been 
wrought might all have been averted by a little wise and 
judicious management, had the sober and industrious class of 
the people — the bone and sinew of the nation — taken a more 
active part and kept the control of public affairs out of the 
hands of unprincipled politicians and demagogues. Had the 
central government been more of a government and less of a 
party, and executed its functions with a firm hand, instead of 
pandering for party votes, such a wreck could never have 
occurred. 

That the expression I had so often heard in the early part 
of the movement, that " there were plenty of sensible and 
respectable men in the country to overrule the ravings of 
unprincipled demagogues," was no doubt true ; but why they 
failed to do it, and why a nation of intelligent people should 
allow themselves to be goaded to destruction upon a shibboleth 
arising out of a question in which so few of them had any 
interest was a question for reflection, and seemed to impress 
me with the idea that for a government to be controlled 
successfully by the direct voice of the people it is imperatively 
necessary that the people must be honest, intelligent, and 
possess a high tone of moral principle and be impervious to 
flattery ; that every man must take an enlightened and inde- 
pendent interest in the government of the country and be ever 
vigilant and guarded against the insidious wiles of self-seeking 
agitators and demagogues, who live by agitation and prey 
upon the credulity of the masses. 

That in all countries a certain amount of what may be called 
the residuum of society naturally exists. These may not be 
altogether criminal, but of an improvident and idle class, 
generally termed loafers or roughs ; and, although the natural 
proportion of this class in mankind is but small, the number 
is greatly increased and their pretensions emboldened by the 
influence of agitating demagogues ; and, though they may still 
be but a small proportion of the population, they have in 
politics a great advantage over the industrious citizen. They 
have no regular business or labour to attend to, and they give 
themselves up to agitation and politics. Their leaders possess 
any amount of effrontery, and always put themselves forward 
in any political movement and take possession of the field, and 
unless the honest, industrious citizens are constantly on the 
alert, this element will be certain to gain the ascendency and 



452 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

control nominations and elections ; and, for the better accom- 
plishment of their ends, it is a common practice with political 
tricksters to strangle liberal and broader sentiments by taking 
hold of public questions and reducing them to narrow dogmas, 
with two extreme sides, to which public sentiment must adhere 
pro or con, allowing no admittance for any side reasoning or 
inquiry, and the honest, industrious citizen must either follow 
and support their views and objects or be branded as opponents 
to all good measures. 

Men having business and work to attend to often have little 
time to attend to political matters, especially when elections 
are frequent, and they become indifferent and disgusted, 
especially when they see at the head of political movements 
men of depraved and worthless character. 

That those whose business it is to maintain order and enforce 
the laws, and also those whose business it is to adjudicate and 
execute the laws, when they obtain their offices and positions 
through the influence of such an agency, too often swerve from 
a strict sense of duty and seek more to please such as have a 
control or influence in elections than to administer justice with 
a firm and impartial hand. 

That there is no chain so heavy or yoke so oppressive as 
that which men will unwittingly place upon their own necks, 
or bend their necks to receive, while being beguiled and led 
along by liberty shriekers under their pretended banner of 
freedom. 

As to any opinion I formed of the chief actors in this war 
— if we take the political body, presidents, cabinets, and con- 
gresses — I could say very little for them, either North or 
South ; in fact, I knew very little about them, and I would 
not like to become security for the honesty of any of them. 
Perhaps the most honest man among them all was Mr. Lincoln 
himself. 

I confess I never had any great regard for Jefferson Davis. 
I considered him a little too much the type of the extreme 
Southern politician, with a little tendency towards the auto- 
crat. A man of considerable talent, unbending will, and great 
ambition ; and I cannot help thinking that he prolonged the 
war long after he saw that the cause was utterly hopeless, when 
he might have made terms which would have saved tens of 
thousands of lives, and saved hundreds of thousands from 
untold misery. And it seems strange to say that the first to 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 453 

ask for terms was General Lee, a man whom it may be safe to 
assert was the greatest hero of this war, whose undoubted 
bravery and high attainments as a general and a leader were 
unquestionable, and on whose noble character no one could 
cast a stain, but who could not stand by and see his brave 
followers die of starvation. Lee I considered to be the greatest 
general of the war and Farragut the man who struck the blows 
most fatal to the South. 

While I never could see much to commend or admire in the 
political personages on either side, I think there was something 
to admire in the indomitable energy and determination dis- 
played by the combatants on both sides, from the generals to 
the private soldiers. 

What seemed to me as the most striking feature in this war 
was the aptitude of the volunteer system in raising upon the 
nucleus of the standing volunteer companies and bringing into 
the field in an incredible short time a large and effective army, 
and the zeal and general bravery displayed by the citizen 
soldiers. 

Whatever may be said by European critics about inefficiency, 
lack of training, and armed mobs, I still think that there were 
some things which might be worthy of a little attention. 
Should it ever be the fortune of any of those critics to see an 
army cut into remnants and dashed into confusion, mixed up 
and scattered, but the troops still uniting as if by mutual 
attraction forming a front without regard to parade precision, 
sustaining charge after charge and still fighting and holding 
their own, he might say that they were defeated but they did 
not know of it. Yet those troops remained masters of the 
field ; whereas, some troops, schooled to observe and maintain 
as a sine qua non, a higher degree of military order and 
precision, might have become disconcerted and considered all 
lost and fled in confusion. I have sometimes thought that 
one of the chief causes of the success of the Confederate troops 
was the alacrity with which they would form up into line, in 
a temporary rough and ready way after being driven into 
confusion by some sudden cause or movement in a rough or 
rugged country and maintain the battle in that position, 
while, as soon as opportunity afforded, every man would fall 
into his place in the company, the company to its place in the 
battalion, and the battalion to its place in the brigade, and 
order regained in a short time. 



454 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

That the troops were not drilled up to the finest points of 
military precision is certainly true, but most of them had good 
practical training, and I cannot say that I ever saw them 
suffer seriously from the want of the finer points. 

With regard to mismanagement I must admit that I saw 
and experienced plenty of it ; but this seems to be a necessary 
accompaniment of all armies, and, I suppose, has been a 
prominent feature in almost every war on record. 

But this does not arise through any inefficiency or want 
of training of the officers or men, but generally proceeds 
from some political influence and from misunderstandings 
among the higher functionaries, and much mismanagement 
often arises from overmanagement through too much official- 
ism or through complicated and overstrained regulations in 
the different departments — particularly in the arrangements 
for transportation, where there seems to be always great 
mismanagement. 

It has often been asserted by the exponents of human 
rights and liberties that certain cherished principles inherited, 
maintained, and contended for by a nation or people, can 
never be put down by force of arms — that the land may be 
overrun and held in subjection by a military force, but people 
imbued with certain inherent principles will never be subdued. 
They would fly to the mountains and fastnesses, and every 
rock, stump, and copse would have its rifleman, until they 
were utterly exterminated. This has, no doubt, been proved 
to be true in many instances throughout history. 

It might be said that in this war such doctrine was proved 
to be fallacious. But I think for such a doctrine to hold good 
it is necessary that the principles contended for must be 
inherent, deep rooted, and universal, and it may not always do 
to accept as genuine sentiment what may be blurted forth by 
leading demagogues who may have thrust themselves forward 
as the champions of the people, and by the combination of a 
certain number hold the rest of the people in terror and 
subjection and only allow certain sentiments to be uttered. 

I do believe from what I observed that this last was to a 
considerable extent the state of things in the South ; and in a 
very large portion of the population no deep-rooted principle 
existed ; and though they took up arms promj)tly, and fought 
manfully, it was not so much to maintain any inherent principle 
as in a moment of passion they sought to separate themselves 



IN THE SOUTH DURING THE WAR. 455 

from a people which they imagined had grossly insulted them, 
and from a Government which they considered had treated 
them badly, and had forfeited all claims to their respect and 
allegiance, and provoked them into war. And, with a great 
portion of them, at least, the question was more a quarrel of 
the moment, which had been brought about by the machina- 
tions of politicians on both sides, into which they had got 
unwittingly plunged, and could not avoid, than to maintain 
any fixed principles, or redress any long-standing wrongs or 
grievances. 

The class I refer to were the respectable, industrious class, 
the rank and file who did the fighting. 

As to the political body, who did the talking, what their 
actual principles or pretended principles were I do not exactly 
know, and, like many others, considered it in the midst of the 
violent quarrel of the moment to be of little importance ; but 
certainly there were few among them of that kind that would 
fly to the mountains and rocks and fight until totally exter- 
minated. 

It seems to me that there can be no better proof of this 
than the way the war terminated, and the incredibly short 
time in which the fabric was cemented up, the wreck and 
damage repaired, and the enormous debt wiped ofi*, or brought 
within controllable bounds, and things restored to their former 
conditions, and the nation more powerful and prosperous than 
ever; and rancorous hate dispelled from the minds of the 
great body of the people and confined to only a very few 
narrow-minded partisans on either side, and who it is to be 
hoped, from the desperate experience so dearly bought, will 
not likely again be allowed on that or any other question to 
exercise such influence over the minds of the respectable body 
of the people and lead them on to destruction. 

It may be asserted, and with some truth, in regard to the 
way in which order was so soon again restored, that the 
institution of slavery, which led to the war no longer existed, 
and there was no longer any cause for dissension. But had 
that institution been embodied in a deep-rooted inherent 
principle, universally cherished and maintained, and it was 
for that principle alone that such a large body fought so long 
and so vigorously, it would not have been so soon set aside 
and forgotten. 

There will, no doubt, always remain a spirit or sentiment of 



456 LIFE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

sympathy or admiration for the one side or the other, but that 
will never take the form of party feeling. 

I believe that any admiration evoked for the Confederate 
movement, or any fame which may pass to posterity, will 
attach, not to the cause or principle for which they were said 
to be fighting, but to the determination and bravery displayed 
by those who fought the battles ; and if we accept what I 
think has been rather unjustly paraded before the world, as 
the only principles involved in the cause for which they fought, 
it might be a little difficult to account for the existence of 
such a brave spirit in men possessing no other principles, and 
appear somewhat contrary to moral reasoning. 

But I confess that I am not skilled in political questions, 
high military science, or human philosophy, and I do not put 
forth these closing remarks to be accepted as any authority, 
but only as the simple opinions which I formed from what I 
saw and what took place around me. 

I have tried to give, in the best manner I can, a brief 
account of what I observed and experienced in this quarrel 
and war, and, though in a crude and imperfect style, I believe 
I could give no truer account were I put into a witness box 
and examined before a commission or committee ; and if those 
who may take the trouble to wade through my bad diction 
should find anything to interest or amuse them, I shall be 
much gratified. 



DspAKTMianp 

OF StaTB. 



AIRD AND COGHILL, PRINTERS, GLASGOW. 



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United States 

Department of State 

Library 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 704 534 5 



